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Kurdistan Government Representative urges
EU to support new Post-Referendum Iraq
25.10.2005
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Brussels, Tuesday
25th October, 2005 (KRG)
Burhan Jaf, Kurdistan Government Representative to
the EU in Brussels, hailed the referendum result in
favour of the constitution. Mr Jaf said, “This is
the first time in Iraq’s tragic history that all the
communities have taken part in the political process
and decided on the future of the country.”
Mr Jaf also welcomed the support given to the
referendum result by Javier Solana, High
Representative for EU Common Foreign and Security
Policy. Mr Jaf added, “Now that a clear majority of
Iraqis have voted in favour of the new federal,
democratic constitution, which sets the framework
for a federal, democratic Iraq, we hope that the EU
and the member states will accelerate their economic
aid and political support for Kurdistan and the
whole of Iraq.”
Mr Jaf believes that the time has come for the EU to
have a Commission Office in Erbil, the capital of
Kurdistan, as UN agencies and several European
member states have already established consulates
and offices there.
The constitution formalises the powers that the
Kurdistan Government has exercised since 1992, when
Kurdistan’s political parties held an
internationally-monitored election for seats in
their regional parliament.
The Kurdistan Government views the constitution as a
guarantor of the Kurds’ autonomy and ensures
protection of their human rights. Under the former
Ba’ath regime, the central government ruled most of
the country through violence and repression,
resulting in the mass graves that are being
unearthed today. This constitution will hold Iraq
together because it is based on a voluntary union,
peaceful coexistence and mutual recognition between
the different religious and national groups that
live in Iraq. This, rather than the forcible
centralised control of the old regime, will
guarantee the unity of Iraq.
The President of the Kurdistan Region, Massoud
Barzani, rallied the support of Sunni Arabs by
agreeing to allow future amendments once general
elections are held in December and by accepting that
Arabic would be an official language in Kurdistan.
Voters in Erbil, Duhok and Suleimani, the three
provinces that form the Kurdistan Region, voted
overwhelmingly in favour of the constitution. Voters
in the city of Kirkuk, which had been ethnically
cleansed of Kurds by the Ba’ath regime, voted ‘yes’
by 63 percent.
Overall, 78 percent of Iraqi voters backed the
charter and 21 percent opposed it. The turnout for
Iraq as a whole was 63 percent of registered voters,
more than the 58 percent turnout for national
elections in January.
Mr Burhan Jaf, Kurdistan Government Representative
to the EU, Belgium and Holland, is available for
interview on all subjects relating to Kurdistan in
Iraq.
The Kurdistan Government is the elected authority of
the Kurdistan Region in Iraq. The Kurdistan
Government is comprised of the Cabinet, first formed
in September 1996, and the Kurdish Parliament, which
was elected in May 1992.
www.krg.org
For more information contact:
Kurdistan Government Office,
Miss Vian Rahman, Director of Communications
Tel: +32 (0)2 513 7228
Email: vian.rahman@skynet.be
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