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Kurdish leaders have presented a redrawn map with a
larger Kurdistan to the Iraqi National Assembly for
consideration in the new constitution, a Kurdish
party official said Thursday.
The map reflected long-standing Kurdish claims that
stretches their territory south toward the capital
of Baghdad -- well beyond the boundaries of the
current Kurdish autonomous area.
"The Kurdistan parliament and Kurdish parties have
ratified and agreed on this map. We want this map to
be part of the constitution," said Mullah Bakhtiyar,
a senior official with the Kurdish Democratic Party,
one of the two main Kurdish political parties.
The Kurdish demand was unlikely to be well-received
by Sunnis and Shiites on the constitutional
commission and could further complicate efforts to
complete the draft charter by the Aug. 15 deadline.
The southern boundaries of the proposed
Kurdish-controlled area would include the towns of
Badra and Jassan, about 90 miles southeast of
Baghdad.
"We need an official map that marks the boundaries
of Kurdistan in the federal Iraq. This redrawn map
is based on historical and geographical facts and we
are determined to stick to this map," Bakhtiyar
said.
"In any negotiations, we might be ready to seek
compromises on some political privileges or
ministerial posts, but the boundary of Kurdistan is
a red line, and Kurdish leaders are committed to
this," he said.
The northern Kurdish-ruled region has been
autonomous since 1991, when the area enjoyed U.S.
and British protection from Iraqi leader Saddam
Hussein. In the drafting of a new Iraqi
constitution, Kurdish leaders have been pushing hard
for a federalist system, which would have strong
regional governments.
Bakhtiyar said some people in the committee --
notably Sunni Arabs -- oppose the idea of federalism
because they are afraid that this would be a step
toward dividing Iraq, but "they are wrong because
federalism is the best guarantee for a united Iraq."
The Kurds, Washington’s most reliable allies in
Iraq, comprise 15 percent to 20 percent of Iraq’s
estimated 27 million people. Together with the
Shiite majority, they had been oppressed for decades
by the Sunni Arab minority.
AP
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