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ARBIL,
Iraq, Feb 17 (AFP) - 7h28 - Kurds rejected the
idea of an Islamic republic in Iraq following the
victory of a conservative Shiite list in last
month's historic elections.
"Kurds will oppose setting up an Islamic republic if
this question is asked by other political forces in
Iraq," Adnan Mufti, a senior member of the Patriotic
Union of Kurdistan headed by Jalal Talabani, said
Wednesday.
"Of course we are a Muslim people and we must
respect our Muslim identity but we cannot pit
religion against democracy," said Mufty, himself a
candidate for speaker of the autonomous Kuridsh
parliament.
Sami Shursh, the unofficial minister of culture
within the other heavyweight Kurdish party, Massud
Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party, agrees.
"What Kurds want is a republican regime founded on
the principle of rotation of power, with a
parliamentary system, a separation of powers and a
separation of religion and the state," he said
Wednesday.
The vast majority of Kurds in Iraq are Sunni
Muslims.
The PUK and the KDP swept to victory in the Kurdish
provinces of Sulaimaniyah, Arbil and Dohuk, where
they will control the autonomous parliament of 111
seats.
Their alliance is also due to take 75 seats in the
National Assembly, having won the northern provinces
of Tamim and Nineveh, home respectively to the
oil-rich city of Kirkuk and Mosul, Iraq's third
city.
Kurds want Kirkuk to be the capital of their
autonomous region.
Several candidates on the winning Shiite list,
backed by spiritual leader Grand Ayatollah Ali
Sistani, have said they do not want to set up an
Islamic republic in Iraq, but they have yet to
dispel all fears.
An aide to secular Shiite and outgoing prime
minister Iyad Allawi also advised Jaafari against
the temptation of theocratic power.
"Religion is a dangerous thing for Iraq... There are
Shiites and Sunnis in the same tribes, in the same
families, but if we go down this road, we will
create divisions," said Imad Shabib Wednesday.
He also warned Jaafari about the risks of siding
with Iran.
Allawi's Iraqi List came a distant third in the
election with a likely 40 seats, far behind the
Shiite United Iraqi Alliance's 140.
Even if the Kurds were to unite with Allawi's list,
they still would not have a simple majority.
The Kurdish parties have said they would form
alliances with whoever defends their interests.
Political analyst Kamran Kardaghi said that the
Kurds must oppose any attempt to "make Islam the
only source of law" when the country's new,
permanent constitution is drawn up over the coming
months.
"Even if Islam is the religion of most Iraqis, it is
in the interest of neither the Kurds nor the Iraqis
to impose Sharia (Islamic) law on a people made up
of different religious groups."
© 2005 AFP. All rights reserved.
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