KurdistanObserver.com

Demand of Kurds For Option To Secede Rejected

BAGHDAD — (AP) July 24, 2005- A Kurdish proposal to give Kurds the constitutional right to hold a referendum on self-determination after eight years has been rejected by the committee drafting the new charter, a Shia member said yesterday.

The comments by Bahaa Al Araji came in response to statements by Kurdish committee member Saadi Barzanchani that Kurds might secede from Iraq and form their own independent state if they are given the right to hold the self-determination referendum. "This suggestion was rejected by the constitutional drafting committee,” Al Araji said. "This will not be part of the constitution at all.”

Despite the rejection yesterday, another Kurdish committee member, Hussein Mohammed Taha, said they will continue to push for a referendum. Kurds are seeking such a right because in the past, they were "persecuted by previous central governments and parts of their territories were confiscated,” he said.