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Kurdistan Region-Iraq News in brief
18.10.2006
update 1 |
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Sulaimaniyah,
Erbil, Duhok, Kirkuk, Kurdistan Region (Iraq), October
18,
2006
Kurdistan parliament demands higher salaries for
social workers, psychiatrists
Sulaymaniyah, -- Kurdistan parliament sent a
memorandum to the local government of the autonomous
Iraqi northern province on Tuesday urging a salary
rise for members of Kurdistan society for social
workers and psychiatrists, a legislator said.
The memorandum was handed over to the government
after the parliament “approved the demands last
week,” parliamentarian Suzan Shehab said
“Kurdistan parliament demands raising the salaries
of social workers and psychiatrists society by 50%,”
said the memorandum dated October 9 and received by
VOI on Tuesday.
Last month, the society sent a memorandum to the
parliament and provincial government threatening to
stage a sit-in unless its demands for a higher pay
were met
Time is not ripe for disclosing spies' names,
official
A Kurdish minister has criticized the timing of
releasing lists of names who allegedly spied for the
former Baath regime.
"Given that now Anfal trial [of Saddam and his
aides] is in process, the timing of publicizing
those documents is inappropriate," said Muhammad
Haji Mahmud, a Minister of State in the Kurdistan
Regional Government and the Head of the Kurdistan
Socialist Democratic Party. "Kurds need the support
of the world now and this revelation would tarnish
the Kurdish reputation."
The two independent Kurdish weeklies of Halwati and
Awena published dozens of names recently, including
senior members of political parties in Kurdistan,
who spied for the Baath regime. The documents were
seized from Intelligence Service's offices
throughout the country following the collapse of
Saddam regime in April 2003.
In mid October, Kurdistan Parliament held a session
behind closed-doors to discuss the dossiers and
formed a committee to investigate them. However, in
a strange twist, two members of parliament had been
appointed to the committee who are suspected of
spying for the Baath Party. But, they will keep
their posts in parliament until the case is fully
investigated.
"None of the spies will be punished until we fully
investigate the truth of the newly-found dossiers,"
Mahmud added. "We are suspicios about announcing
those names. Those dossiers have been available for
many years, so why should they be disclosed now.
Announcing the names at this time will have a
negative impact."
Disclosing names at this point would create discord
between all the parties and the various wings within
the parties, Mahmud said. He believes that, in
general, political leaders should not hide facts
from the nation, but everything should be brought
forward at the right time.
The revelation of the names has sent shock waves
among Kurdistan public, and has generated a public
demand that the spies must be brought to justice.
Nationally, the majority of people believe the right
thing to do is to suspend those in leadership
positions that are alleged spies, said Mahmud. "Most
of those parties became a defence lawyer for those
people who have been spying."
Kurdish lawmaker criticizes regional constitution
Talabani, who is a member of parliament's legal
committee, criticized the text of the constitution.
A prominent Kurdish lawmaker, who first drafted
Kurdistan constitution in 1992, has slammed the
Kurdistan National Assembly for ambiguities and
translation errors in the draft, saying that Kurdish
constitution must have been released prior to that
of Iraq.
"The freedom that we had [to write a Kurdish
constitution] before approving Iraq's constitution
is now restricted," Dr. Nouri Talabani wrote in a
statement to the Globe. "Some articles in Iraqi
constitution, especially article 110 have given
exclusive powers to the central government [on
certain issues] that, now; we cannot explicitly
oppose those articles in our constitution."
Talabani, who is a member of parliament's legal
committee, criticized the text of the constitution
for "not having been originally written in Kurdish"
and some ambiguities caused by the translation. The
document was first written in Arabic by the
constitutional panel and then translated into
Kurdish.
"We could have written Kurdistan constitution in a
smooth and fluent Kurdish [language], since it is
written for Kurdistan masses so that they could
easily understand the text," he added.
Article 110 of the Iraqi constitution that was
approved in October 2005, specifies the powers
shared between the federal and regional government
in running the regional affairs such as energy
distribution and customs.
Talabani proposed for an item in the Region's
constitution that states "Kurdistan people has opted
for a free union of its land, people and sovereignty
with Iraq," to be changed to "Kurdistan people of
Iraq, have the right to self-determination according
to their will."
He also said the thinking and mentality behind the
constitution is not "Kurdish but an Arab mentality."
The articles of the constitution have been taken
from the constitution of Iraq and several other Arab
states, he added.
The draft prepared by Talabani was approved in a
meeting of 32 Kurdistan political parties in 2002,
in the township of Koya, southeast of Erbil.
However, it underwent changes and amendments by the
constitutional panel of the regional parliament that
started its work in September 2005.
It has sparked hot debates among the Region's
diverse ethnic, religious and political groups, and
after further amendment, is to be put in a popular
referendum earlier next year.
Kurdish Globe.net | Peyamner com | Agencies
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