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BAGHDAD, Aug 7 (AFP) - 4h14 - Iraq's leaders
will attempt to break the deadlock on a new draft
constitution in a national conference here Sunday
amid signs that Iraq's Kurds are unwilling to
compromise on their demands for autonomy.
Iraqi Kurds have rejected suggestions the country
should be proclaimed an Islamic state in the new
constitution and refused to compromise on the
incorporation of oil-rich Kirkuk into their
autonomous northern region.
Massoud Barzani, the president of Iraq's autonomous
Kurdistan, assured Kurdish MPs that he would insist
on federalism and retaining the Kurdish peshmerga
militia when he meets Iraqi leaders to discuss the
constitution Sunday in Baghdad.
"We will not accept that Iraq's identity is
Islamic," Barzani told the autonomous Kurdistan
parliament in Arbil on Saturday.
He also rejected suggestions that Iraq be termed an
Arab nation.
"Let Arab Iraq be part of the Arab nation -- we are
not," the Kurdish leader said.
Barzani arrived in Baghdad late Saturday to
participate in the national conference Sunday.
"This is a golden chance for Kurds and Kurdistan --
if we don't do what is important for Kurdistan,
there will be no second chance. We will not make our
final decision in Baghdad, the Kurdish parliament
will decide," he said.
Iraqi Kurds, who number about 4.5 million, want a
constitution that will guarantee federalism and
preserve their region's autonomy.
Barzani also insisted his region would retain the
peshmerga, despite calls by Baghdad that they be
incorporated in the national army.
The emergency meeting of the Kurdish parliament had
prompted a two-day postponement of the national
conference to break the constitutional deadlock.
The deadlock revolves around federalism, the
official languages of the new Iraq, the relation
between religion and state, the rights of women and
the future of Kirkuk.
"There are many things which need more discussion
and dialogue," said the regional parliament's
speaker, Adnan Mufti, a senior official in the
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, the political party of
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani.
Mufti said the Kurds would be ready to endorse the
charter "if everyone thinks like us -- that the new
constitution should be for all Iraqis."
One potential stumbling block could be the future
status of oil-rich Kirkuk, which Kurds want
incorporated into their territory.
During the 1980s, Saddam Hussein pursued a policy of
"Arabisation" in Kirkuk, driving out thousands of
Kurds and replacing them with Arabs to consolidate
his hold over the city.
Kurds are determined to make good on proposals laid
out in the country's interim law, signed in March
2004, that this policy be reversed and Kurds
returned to the city.
"We believe the new constitution must uphold (the
interim agreements made over Kirkuk) and nothing
less -- we want normalisation," Mufti said.
The national conference is due to report back by
August 12, and Iraqi leaders have insisted they are
on track to complete a final draft for debate by
parliament by August 15 ahead of a referendum in
mid-October.
The referendum will be followed by nationwide
elections in December.
AFP
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