ARBIL, Iraq, June
12 (AFP) - 12h18 - Massoud Barzani, son of the
father of Kurdish nationalism Mullah Mustafa Barzani,
was formally selected Sunday as president of Iraqi
Kurdistan at a landmark event attended by
dignitaries from home and abroad.
The 111-member Kurdish parliament in Arbil, 350
kilometers (220 miles) north of Baghdad, met as the
city's streets were awash in the green, white and
red flags of Kurdistan, emblazoned with a yellow
sun. |
Massoud
Barzani
President of Iraqi Kurdistan |
|
"The choice of Barzani as regional president crowns
hundreds of years of struggle, strewn with the
bodies of martyrs," parliament speaker Adnan
al-Mufti said following the vote.
Iraqi Kurdistan includes the three northern
provinces of Sulaimaniyah, Arbil and Dohuk.
"I congratulate the Kurds and the families of
peshmergas (guerrilla fighters) as one of their own
becomes president of Kurdistan to work for their
rights and defend their interests," deputy speaker
Kamal Karkukli said.
"It is an historic day that all Kurds should
celebrate."
Barzani heads the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP),
one of two main parties in the region along with the
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).
A giant portrait of Mustafa Barzani overlooked the
assembly, flanked by Kurdish flags representing the
territory he had claimed for Kurds in the middle of
the 20th century before Saddam Hussein's Baath party
came to power.
The swearing-in ceremony that was scheduled for
Sunday was postponed two days owing to a weather
conditions, as a sandstorm swept across Iraq.
The younger Barzani was chosen to lead the Kurdish
provinces following four months of talks with the
PUK, which is led by his former rival and current
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani.
Both parties took pains to make the day one that
would live on in Kurdish history books.
Following the 1991 Gulf War, the two parties fell
out over power-sharing and tax revenues in the
region and thousands died in ensuing fighting, with
Barzani even calling in Saddam's forces to fight the
PUK on his behalf.
The two sides then formed an alliance following the
Iraqi dictator's fall in April 2003, agreeing to
defend their right to autonomy within a federal
Iraq.
January 30 national elections left the Kurds as the
second strongest political force, after Iraqi
Shiites, but it took the KDP and PUK four months to
reach agreement on who would hold the regional
presidency, a decision that saw their parliament
finally open on June 4.
On Saturday, Barzani obtained all 42 votes of his
own party, as well as the PUK's 42 ballots and the
remaining 27 spread among smaller Kurdish groups..
AFP
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