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Yesterday, Al Sharq Al Awsat has called Dr. Fuad
Ma'soum, first deputy president of the constitution
drafting committee in his office in Baghdad, who
said, "Tomorrow (Today), the constitution council
would be able to have a full board meeting, of its
70 members, for the first time, as there is usually
absence of members during the council meetings." He
pointed out that the most important issue that would
be discussed is the application of article 58 of the
state administration code, which deals with the
application of relations in the city of Kirkuk.
Ma'soum said, "The Arab Sunnis have requested the
increase of the number of their 15 representatives,
but those 15 members never attended, as only half of
them or 9 usually attend as a maximum." Ma'soum
added, "In tomorrow's (today's) meeting, we would
discuss the subcommittees in the council, which are
6 committees, each is specialized in one aspect of
the constitution, such as: the general principles,
freedom, the law of parties, elections law, etc." He
stressed that the council would not discuss what has
been achieved or agreed upon, but would discuss the
disagreements to discuss them and reach agreement
points.
The deputy president of the constitution committee confirmed, "What
matters the most in this meeting is listening to the
opinions and suggestions of the Arab Sunnis and
their final opinion, as they had held a meeting the
day before yesterday. Today, they would inform us of
their views and suggestions, so as to advance in
drafting the constitution."
Ma'soum stressed that the Kurds, "insist on the
application of Article 58 of the state
administration code for the interim period, which is
currently considered as the considered as the
interim constitution." He said, "Yes, we insist on
the application of this article before the
plebiscite on the constitution."
Article 58 of the state administration code stresses
the significance of the naturalization of conditions
in Kirkuk city. This means the return of Kurds,
Turkmen or any other races to their city of Kirkuk,
after Saddam Hussein's regime has displaced them to
various regions in Iraq and replaced them with Arabs
from central and southern Iraq for the purpose of
the Arabization of the city of Kirkuk and erasing
its real identity.
He said, "The process of normalization should be
finished before submitting the constitution draft
for plebiscite. This process is relating to the
identity of Kirkuk city and its belonging." He
referred to the significance of solving the issue of
Kirkuk city before the plebiscite. He added, "I do
not say that we join Kirkuk to Kurdistan but I am
stressing on naturalization first, and hence we
shall discuss the belonging of Kirkuk city through
the constitution."
The MP denied that they discussed the issue of
naming Iraq in the National Assembly and said, "No
member has suggested adding the term Arabic or Arab
to the name of Iraq republic. The names that are
subject for discussion are Iraq Republic, or Iraqi
Republic, or the Federal Iraqi Republic." He ruled
out adding the Islamic aspect to the name. He said,
"We are not in favor of adding (Islamic) to the Iraq
Republic. It is ruled out, for us, as there are
religions other than Islam in Iraq."
Ma'soum pointed out, "As long as the definition of
(Iraqi Republic) means federation, then the system
should be federal and that means that Iraq would
consist of various federations, i.e. there would be
a federation in the south and another in the center,
in addition to the federation of Kurdistan. Or that
Kurdistan would be a federation and the other Iraqi
region would be the Rafedein Federation, as some MPs
have suggested." He pointed out, "The Kurds are
insisting on their federation, and this is a matter
that would never be refrained from."
In his words, Ma'soum concluded that it is necessary
to finish drafting the constitutions on time, which
is the middle of next month. "We are exerting our
best efforts for that and so that we are not delayed
in submitting the project of the Iraqi permanent
constitution for plebiscite on time, at the
beginning of next October," he said.
The first deputy president of the constitution
drafting committee added, "Tomorrow's (Today's)
meting would specify how fast we are in achieving
the constitution, especially as there are suspended
problems as I stated, such as the execution of
Article 58 of the state administration code, as to
finish the issue of the belonging of Kirkuk city, in
addition to the final approval that Kurdistan region
would enjoy a federal government and the issue of
the elections' law, whether Iraq would be considered
as one electoral district or would be divided into
various regions according to provinces."
Ma'd Fayadh
Al Sharq Al Awsat
www.almendhar.com
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