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The
Iraqi National Assembly session was opened with a
one-minute silence for the loss of martyr Shaykh
Dari al-Fayyad who was assassinated by terrorist in
the Al-Rashidiyah area in Baghdad while on his way
to the assembly.
In another development, rumour has it that the MPs
from the United Iraqi Alliance bloc have recently
decided to put forward a demand to postpone the
issue of Kirkuk and undermine Article 58 (of the
interim State Administration Law).
(MP Fattah al-Shaykh, from Al-Sadr group - recording
in Arabic) The issue of Kirkuk must be dealt with
because Kirkuk is an Iraqi city.
(Reporter) As Fattah al-Shaykh, an MP from Al-Sadr
group, dismisses historical facts and says Kirkuk is
an Iraqi city of Arab, Kurdish, Sunni, Shi'is and
Turkoman constituents. He also believes that the
postponement of the Kirkuk question until after the
drafting of the permanent constitution will benefit
the Iraqis. He also confirmed the rumour about the
intention of the United Iraqi Alliance, believing
Kirkuk belongs to the Iraqi people before the Kurds.
He also believes that if the Kurds have unilaterally
made their final decision on the Kirkuk issue, then
the MPs of (United Iraqi) Alliance list will vote
against it unanimously.
Although the Kurdistani MPs are aware of the rumour
yet they hope that there is no such a plan in place.
Because the coalition government and the agreement
between the Kurdistan Alliance List and the (United
Iraqi) Alliance list is based on the implementation
of the interim Law. And so Article 58 cannot be
compromised upon.
(Sa'di Berzinji, an MP from the Kurdistani Alliance
List) This has not been proposed and we hope it will
not be. However, God forbid, if such a proposal
comes to question, the Kurdistani Alliance bloc will
adopt a tough and decisive stance. We will not
accept this by any means. This issue cannot be
compromised upon. (Iyad) Allawi's government should
have implemented Article 58.
The Kurds only agreed to enter the elections because
of the position of the then government. Also the
Presidency Council, the Chairmanship of the Council
of Ministers, Speaker of the Iraqi National Assembly
pledged that after the elections the article would
be implemented by the transitional government, or
Al-Ja'fari's government. And Article 58 stipulates
that the transitional government must implement all
the clauses of the article.
(Firyad Rewanduzi, an MP from the Kurdistani
Alliance bloc) This is an alarming stance, and it is
wrong. Because the issue of Kirkuk and the failure
to implement Article 58 is a red line that neither
the Kurdistani Alliance List and nor, in my opinion,
the Kurdish leadership will agree to be crossed.
The article must be implemented before the term of
the transitional government comes to an end,
Besides, one of the key terms of the agreement
between the (United Iraqi) Alliance and the (Kurdistani)
Alliance is that the normalization process of the
Kirkuk status must be set in motion.
Otherwise, it is an alarming game that may prompt
the Kurds in Kurdistan, and in the other areas, not
to vote for the constitution and, hence, we will
return to where we began.
www.krg.org
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