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Sulaimaniyah, Iraq, (AFP) - The Kurdistan
Islamic Group, which won just two seats in last
month's historic elections in Iraq, said Tuesday it
will join the Kurdish Alliance to form a 77-seat
bloc in the 275-seat parliament.
"That means we are going to support the demands of
the Kurdish Alliance concerning the federal system
and reintegration of Kirkuk and other towns into
Kurdistan as well as for a fair share in the
country's natural resources," party spokesman Tawfiq
Karim told AFP.
But he said his party would continue to oppose the
separation of state and religion. Mainstream Kurds
have rejected the idea of an Islamic republic in
Iraq following the victory of a conservative Shiite
list in the polls.
"On this point we will continue to demand a
strengthening of the Muslim identity of the Iraqi
people in general and of the Kurds in particular,"
said the spokesman.
The Kurdish Alliance is made up of the two main
Kurdish parties, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan
and the Kurdistan Democratic Party.
They want to take control of Kirkuk, a key northern
oil city outside the Kurdish autonomous zone.
Ousted president Saddam Hussein resettled the city
with tens of thousands of Arabs in a bid to deny the
Kurds the area's oil wealth.
The Kurdish Alliance won a landslide 59 percent of
the local vote in Kirkuk, held alongside the January
30 national polls for a new government.
The Kurds are also hoping to be given the largely
ceremonial post of Iraq's new president.
The United Iraqi Alliance, the clergy-backed Shiite
list that took 140 seats in the vote, is holding
negotiations to decide on the country's new prime
minister.
AFP
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