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The Shiite United Iraqi Alliance, the country's
largest vote-getter, and the second-placed Kurds
have said they agree that Kirkuk, whose Kurdish
population was largely expelled by Saddam Hussein,
should be settled under the terms outlined by
article 58 of Iraq's interim constitution (TAL).
But Barzani, who heads the Kurdistan Democratic
Party (KDP), which controls the northern provinces
of Arbil and Dohuk, was insisting the steps to be
taken under the provision be spelled out now.
"If we follow what article 58 says then I am sure we
can solve this matter peacefully."
A senior KDP official Dilshad Miran, who represents
the Kurdish regional parliament in Baghdad, said
consensus existed among the parties, but the Kurds,
who were brutally oppressed under Saddam, wanted
steps spelled out on all issues.
"It is important the understanding between the two
sides is clear and transparent. For the Kurdish
people there have been a lot of problems in the
past. Politics cannot just be built on trust," Miran
said.
The Kurds, whose 77 seats give them the
second-largest share in the new 275-member national
assembly, have insisted on a written pledge from the
UIA, which swept the polls with 146 seats, on the
TAL and Kirkuk.
The Kurds had wanted guarantees that more steps
would be taken on Kirkuk in line with the TAL's
article 58.
The article pledges that the coming government will
redress the mass expulsion of Kurds from Kirkuk
under Saddam who wanted the region's lucrative oil
reserves under Arab control.
It also calls for the government to examine Saddam's
redrawing of provinces in the name of Arabisation,
the jailed dictator's policy of ridding ethnic
minorities like the Kurds from strategic areas.
AFP
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