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Statement by President of Kurdistan Region
on Iraq Study group
10.12.2006 |
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After studying the report prepared by the Iraq
Study Group we deem it necessary to issue the
following statement.
1) The failure of the Iraq Study Group to
visit the Kurdistan Region was a major shortcoming
in its information gathering process; this alone
detracts from the credibility of the report.
2) In recommendation 26 of the report, the
Iraq Study Group asks for a constitutional review,
with assistance from the United Nations, any review
of the constitution should be strictly in accord
with the mechanisms stated in the constitution. We
reject any constitutional review outside of the
mechanisms created for this purpose within the Iraqi
Constitution. The unity of Iraq is preserved by the
terms of the Iraqi Constitution.
3) Recommendation 28 of the report states
that all oil revenues should accrue to the central
government and be shared on the basis of population.
It further states that control of oil resources by
the regions is not compatible with national
reconciliation. On this point we reiterate our
commitment to the Iraqi Constitution that has
rendered a proper solution to this question and we
reject attempts to alter this solution. |
Massoud Barzani, President of Kurdistan
Region in Iraq |
4) Recommendation 30 states the
implementation of Article 140 of the Iraqi
Constitution should be delayed. It further states
that this issue should be placed on the agenda of
the International Iraq Support Group (an
international group the report seeks to create).
The Iraqi constitution defined the time and
mechanism for implementing Article 140; a basic
right of the Kurdish people. Any delay in the
process of the implementation of Article 140 will
have grave consequences and will in no way be
accepted by the people of the Kurdistan Region.
5) The report argues for strengthening the
central government and weakening the power of
regions. This contradicts the constitution and the
principle of federalism that forms the basis of the
new Iraq. We reiterate that federalism is the only
solution for maintaining the unity of Iraq.
6) In certain portions of the report the
interests and concerns of neighboring countries have
been taken into consideration, and the report argues
that these nations should play a larger role in
Iraq’s future. This runs counter to the interests of
the Iraqi people and especially the interests of the
people of the Kurdistan Region – it amounts to
interference in Iraq’s internal affairs.
7) Recommendations 27 and 35 support rewarding those
who opposed the political process in Iraq, by
restoring them to government posts and power. This
runs counter to the interests of the majority of the
Iraqi people and the democratic process.
8) We offer our thanks to the President of
the United States for bringing down the former
regime and for his administration's role in building
a new Iraq. The Iraq Study Group has offered
unrealistic and unreasonable recommendations, in the
hope of helping the US extricate itself from a
difficult situation. If under this pretext the Iraq
Study Group believes it can impose unreasonable
recommendations on us, we, then, on behalf of the
people
of the Kurdistan Region, reject everything that is
against the interests of Iraq and the Kurdistan
Region.
9) The report contradicts the words of Mr.
James Baker, who told us by phone that the special
nature of the Kurdistan Region had been taken into
consideration in the report. Although we
communicated the Kurdistan Regional Government’s
perspective to the commission in a letter before the
report was released, the commission ignored the
letter and did not read it.
In closing, we state that we are in no way abiding
by this report; we do not want the achievements of
the political process in Iraq generally, and the
Kurdistan Region specifically, to be marginalized,
especially in the wake of elections and a
constitutional referendum that was approved by 80
percent of the Iraqi people. Elections, we might
add, that were supported by the international
community and the United States.
Before others attempt to solve Iraqi problems, let
Iraqis think about national reconciliation
seriously. We call on all Iraqi groups who believe
in the political and constitutional process and a
federal and democratic Iraq, to take serious steps
to solve our problems so that we can dispense with
the deeply flawed recommendations of others.
Masoud Barzani
President of the Kurdistan Region, 7 December 2006
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