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Kurdish leaders insist
they have no plan to secede from Iraq.
Kurdish leaders insisted Tuesday they have no plan
to secede from Iraq even if they want the new
constitution to give them the right to do so, one of
the issues that forced a delay in finishing the
draft charter.
Meetings were to resume Wednesday among Iraqi
leaders seeking to finish the draft by the new
deadline, midnight Aug. 22.
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, acknowledged
that his fellow Kurds wanted self-determination but
brushed aside talk of secession.
He added that Kurds are for unity and he expected
the constitution to be finished "before the
deadline."
Other Kurds defended their self-determination
demand, although they insisted they have no plans to
secede.
Mullah Bakhtiyar, a senior official in the Kurdish
Democratic Party, said Kurdish politicians have no
present intentions to gain independence.
However, the Kurdish official noted they need
self-determination in order to decide their future
in case troubles erupt in Iraq in the future.
Meanwhile, Iraqi leaders expressed confidence they
would overcome differences over remaining issues in
drafting the new Constitution, including Kurdish
demands for self-determination and the role of
Islam, by Monday.
However, many leaders were equally sanguine about
prospects for meeting the original Aug. 15 deadline.
If no agreement can be reached this time, the
interim constitution requires that parliament be
dissolved.
Different groups gave conflicting information on
what had been resolved and what stood in the way of
a deal.
Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, a Shiite,
mentioned federalism, the election law and the
formula for distributing revenue from oil and other
natural resources.
Sunni negotiator Mohammed Abed-Rabbou said "the most
important point is federalism."
In a related development, U.S. Ambassador Zalmay
Khalilzad insisted that self-determination was "not
on the table", adding that he was convinced a deal
could be reached by the new Aug. 22 deadline.
If agreement on a constitution is reached, Iraqis
will vote around Oct. 15 to accept or reject the
charter, leading to more elections in December for
the country's first fully constitutional government
since the U.S.-led war toppled Saddam Hussein's
regime in 2003.
Reuters
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