Erbil-Hewler, Kurdistan region "Iraq", June
14, — Former rebel leader Massoud
Barzani took the oath of office on Tuesday to become
the first president of Iraqi Kurdistan and
immediately vowed to strengthen national unity.
"I promise to safeguard the accomplishments of
Kurdistan and to carry out my duties faithfully,"
Barzani told MPs and dignitaries gathered at the
autonomous region's parliament in the northern city
of Erbil.
Barzani
took his oath of office under a massive portrait of
his father, nationalist hero Mullah Mustafa Barzani,
framed between large red, white, yellow and green
Kurdish flags. |
Massoud Barzani
President of Kurdistan - Iraq |
|
He told the assembly and guests from the national
parliament that their presence showed "the strength
of Kurdish-Arab relations and the broad brotherhood
among Kurds, Arabs, Turkmen and others".
"I will do my best to strengthen national unity and
brotherhood between Kurds and Arabs ... The national
unity of Kurdistan is a national unity for Iraq."
While some Kurds still seek full independence,
Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party and Iraqi
President Jalal Talabani's Patriotic Union of
Kurdistan have dropped such claims, settling instead
for a federal Iraq.
Most Iraqi Kurds are Sunni Muslims and make up
nearly 20 percent of Iraq's 26-million population.
However, the status of the northern oil hub of
Kirkuk is a bone of contention after it was heavily
Arabised under deposed leader Saddam Hussein.
The city is rife with ethnic tension between Kurds,
Arabs and Turkmen, with Kurds insisting it be made
the capital of an expanded autonomous region.
Now, Barzani said, speaking first in Arabic and then
in Kurdish, all must focus on the task of building
"a unified, pluralistic, democratic, federal Iraq,"
in particular drafting a new constitution by an
August 15 target date.
"The constitution will decide the fate of all the
people and thus should be a modern constitution
reached by accord among all to guarantee a free and
prosperous life for the citizens of Iraq."
The ceremony was attended by former rival Talabani,
his two deputies Ghazi al-Yawar, a Sunni Arab, and
Adel Abdel Mahdi, a Shiite, as well as parliament
speaker Hajem al-Hassani.
"We believe that Kurdistan's democratic experience
can serve as a model for the democratic experience
yearned for by Iraq," said Talabani.
"I received a telephone call yesterday from (US)
President (George W.) Bush and he asked me to relay
his greetings to the Kurdish people and his
recognition and support for their struggle."
"Iraqi Kurdistan has now embarked on Iraq's first
real experience of democracy with elections and a
new government," David Satterfield, deputy assistant
secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, told
the assembly.
"The people of this region in particular have
endured countless struggles, countless tragedies,
and have lost successive generations of their sons
in the struggle to secure basic rights.
"A progressive, prosperous Kurdistan will help build
a democratic, unified and prosperous Iraq," he said.
"It is vital that Iraqis work together in good faith
to produce a document based on utmost transparency
and the broadest possible consultation," said
British consul general Colin Crorkin.
"This Kurdish national assembly is a beacon of what
can be achieved at a regional level. It is important
that this assembly continue to demonstrate how local
governance can address issues within Iraq's nascent
federal structure."
The two Kurdish former rebel groups, which form the
second largest bloc in Iraq's national parliament,
ruled the three provinces that currently make up the
autonomous region in defiance of Saddam Hussein's
regime from 1991 to 2003..
AFP
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