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Kurdish
parties have asked for a written promise that Iraq's
next government will promote the resettlement of
Kurds in the disputed province of Kirkuk as the
price of their support for a new governing
coalition.
In a sign that such a promise may be forthcoming and
that a government may soon be formed, members of the
United Iraqi Alliance, which won 140 of 275 seats in
the next parliament, expressed sympathy for the
Kurds' demands.
The Shia-dominated Alliance needs the Kurds' 75
parliamentary seats to get the two-thirds majority
needed to form a new government.
"We hope that the deportees and immigrants can be
returned [to their respective places of origin] in
less than six months," said Jawad Talab, political
counsel to Ibrahim al-Jaafari, a Shia politician
likely to become the next prime minister.
Hoshyar Zebari, Iraq's current foreign
minister and a negotiator for the Kurdish bloc, said
yesterday that Iraq's next government should offer
"written assurances" that it will adhere to Iraq's
Transitional Administrative Law (TAL), which
requires the reversal of deportation of Kurds from
Kirkuk which occurred under Saddam Hussein.
The TAL was promulgated under US occupation, and
contained several controversial articles in addition
to the resettlement of Kurds. Most important, it
granted Iraq's three Kurdish provinces an effective
veto over a draft constitution to be put to
referendum later this year -arequirement that has
been questioned by Shia and Sunni Arabs.
Resettlement is opposed by some Turkoman and Sunni
Arab leaders from Kirkuk, who fear Kurds will flood
Kirkuk and seize control of the oil-rich province.
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