BAGHDAD —AP-AFP- Mar 6, 2005- Iraqi politicians set March 16 for the opening of the country's first democratically elected parliament in modern history as a deal hardened Sunday to name Jalal Talabani, a leader of the minority Kurds, to the presidency.

The more powerful prime minister's job will go to Ibrahim al-Jaafari, a deeply conservative Shiite who leads the Islamic Dawa party. His nomination, which the Kurds have agreed to, has been endorsed by the most powerful Shiite cleric in Iraq — Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.

"This was one of our firm demands and we agreed on it previously. The agreement states that Jalal Talabani takes the presidential post and one of the United Iraqi Alliance members takes the prime minister's post," Talabani spokesman Azad Jundiyan said.

He added, however, that the clergy-backed United Iraqi Alliance also reached a preliminary agreement with the Kurds on their other conditions — including extending their territories to include Kirkuk.

Jundiyan said they wanted the deal on paper before going though with it, while alliance officials, including Ahmad Chalabi, said those negotiations were not over.

State-run Al-Iraqiya television also reported that Barham Saleh, a Kurd who is deputy prime minister for national security affairs, confirmed that the 275-seat National Assembly elected in January would convene March 16.

That is the anniversary of the 1988 Saddam-ordered chemical attack on the northern Kurdish town of Halabja, which killed 5,000 people. Saleh met with alliance leader Abdel Aziz al-Hakim on Saturday when the alliance convened to discuss the issue.

"The United Iraqi Alliance proposed to convene on March 15, but we proposed the 16th, the anniversary of Halabja massacre when Saddam ordered his army in 1988 to kill Kurds with chemical weapons. On this day we want to denounce this massacre as we establish a new democratic parliament," Jundiyan said.

Al-Jaafari and the alliance agreed on Talabani's presidency during a March 3 meeting with Kurdish leaders in northern Irbil. Kurds had long wanted the job for Talabani, the leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.

"We decided to set that date because all the signs indicate that an agreement will be ready before the first session," said Jawad Maliky, second in command in the Dawa party of prime minister candidate Ibrahim Jaafari.

Kurds have received assurances from the UIA list regarding the secular nature of the new government and its respect for Iraq's multi-ethnic and multi-confessional character.

The Kurds seek having the interim laws to continue as the basis of the permanent constitution that will be put to a referendum in October.

As for Kurdish claims over the oil rich northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, both sides appear for now to have agreed to make the issue part of the next legislative debate.

"Kurds have not climbed down from their hard-line position on Kirkuk, but we agreed that it will be dealt with in the context of the interim laws which will form the basis of new constitution," said Maliky.

Article 58 of the laws signed by Paul Bremer, former U.S. administrator in Iraq, postponed the resolution of Kirkuk until after property claims are looked into, a new constitution is drafted and a new census conducted.

(Wire reports)

KurdistanObserver.com