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BAGHDAD, Iraqi Kurds are insisting on control of
oil-rich Kirkuk and other disputed northern areas as
their price for agreeing to a deal on the formation
of a new national government, a Kurdish leader said
on Thursday.
Nechirvan Barzani, prime minister of the Kurdish
regional government, outlined a tough negotiating
position which, if backed by the Kurdish leadership,
could greatly complicate the process of forging a
unified government.
Mr Barzani said in a telephone interview from Arbil
that the Kurds would support whoever backed their
demands to take back disputed territories, including
Kirkuk. But he does not head either main Kurdish
party and the extent of Kurkish support for his
stand was not clear. The Kurds came second in the
Jan 30 election, clinching 75 seats in the assembly,
a margin that makes them king makers.
GOVT FORMATION: Politicians held more talks
in Baghdad to try to strike a deal on forming a new
government. Two men, Shia leader Ibrahim al Jaafari
and interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, a secular
Shia, are in the running to be premier of the first
democratically elected Iraqi government in more than
50 years.
Mr Jaafari, a doctor and father of five, is the
candidate of the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), a
religious Shia-led coalition that won the election,
scooping 48 per cent of the vote, enough for 140
seats in the new 275-member National Assembly.
Mr Allawi, the head of his own coalition, came
third, winning 14 per cent of votes, or 40 seats in
the parliament. Since a two-thirds majority is
effectively needed in the assembly to decide the top
government positions, neither Mr Jaafari's coalition
nor Mr Allawi's has enough backing.
Both are bidding for the support of the Kurds and
the nine other parties and coalitions that won
seats. The Kurds have not let on who they might ally
with and are expected to use their deal-maker or
breaker role to extract concessions from their
future potential partners.
"There are certain principles we are focusing on ...
(including) the right of the Kurdish people to
recover areas which have been Arabized in the past,"
Mr Barzani said. "Whoever is ready to agree with
this, the Kurds are ready to make an alliance."
If the Kurds ally with the main Shia alliance the
pair would immediately secure two-thirds of the vote
in the assembly. If they ally with Mr Allawi, they
would also have to force the break up of the Shia
alliance and draw nearly half their members over to
their side if they are to build the needed
two-thirds support in the assembly - 182 seats.
-Reuters
http://www.dawn.com
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