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SULAIMANIYAH: Iraq’s Kurds are not actively
seeking independence but will be unable to remain
Iraqis if the Baghdad government fails to observe
their key demands, a top Kurdish official has
warned.
“There are three red lines for us... If they are
crossed, we will no longer be Iraqis,” Noshirwan
Mustafa, an aide of Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK)
leader Jalal Talabani, said in an interview. “If the
Arabs do not accept the principle of federalism, we
will no longer be Iraqis. If they insist on a
theocratic regime, we will no longer be Iraqis. And
Kurdish terrorists must be returned to Kurdistan,”
he said.
His comments, days ahead of elections, come amid
rising tensions in Iraq’s north, particularly in the
multi-ethnic city of Kirkuk, which lies outside the
autonomous region of Kurdistan but is coveted by
Arabs and Kurds alike for its oil reserves.
The region of Kurdistan, controlled by the PUK and
Kurdistan Democratic Party, is to elect an
autonomous parliament as well as vote for Iraq’s
national assembly.
The two parties have studiously avoided making any
mention of independence in the run-up to elections
in the hope of preserving the autonomy won in 1991
after years of bloody conflict with Saddam Hussein’s
regime. “We think that the time for micro-states has
passed. What is profitable for the Kurds is to
continue to be part of Iraq,” said Mustafa. –
AFP
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