SULAIMANIYAH, Kurdistan-Iraq,
(AP) Kurdish parliament approves unification of regional government.
Kurdistan’s parliament yesterday formally unified the Kurdish
region’s two long-standing administrations, a step expected to
consolidate and strengthen the Kurds’ push for power.
Unification of the two regional government, one headed by the
Kurdistan Democratic Party and the other by the Patriotic Union of
Kurdistan, was unanimously approved by the 105-member parliament in
Erbil. The step created a joint 32-member Cabinet.
Kurds have enjoyed self-rule in three provinces of the north but
under the separate administrations. The parliament move Sunday marks
the final step in a plan for unification which gathered steam
following the collapse of Saddam Hussein’s rule in 2003.
Kurdistan’s president, Massoud Barzani, in the session of parliament
attended by the US Ambassador to Iraq, said the unification of the
two governments will help the Iraqi central government in its bid to
realise political stability and security.
“The new government of Kurdistan is not only for the Kurds, but for
the other sects and ethnic groups such as the Christians and
Turkomen,” said Barzani, who heads the KDP.
The unification of the two regional governments in the oil-rich
north will likely give the Kurds more leverage in Baghdad and other
parts of Iraq – particularly in the Sunni Arab dominated central
region – where distrust of them runs rampant.
Sunni Arabs fear that Kurds are pushing for secession under the
nation’s new federal system, a step which, if imitated by the Shia
majority in the oil-rich south, would leave Sunnis with little more
than date groves and sand.
Under the newly-approved Cabinet, the PUK will receive 14
portfolios, including the interior and the peshmerga (the Defence
Ministry), while the KDP will hold 13, including post of prime
minister as well as the justice and finance ministries.
The Kurdish Islamic Party has two posts, the Jama’a Islamiya, or
Islamic Group, 1; and one each for Christian and Turkoman
independents.
Iraqi Vice-President Adil Abdul-Mahdi assured lawmakers that the new
national unity government would take up the thorny issue of whether
the oil-rich city of Kirkuk will again be considered part of
Kurdistan. “The governorate borders, .. the displacing of people,
all these issues will be dealt with ... and a solution proposed
before the end of 2007.”
Kirkuk has traditionally been a predominantly Turkoman and Kurdish
city, but Saddam moved thousands of Arabs to the area and displaced
others to cement his grip on power in the north. Since then, Sunni
Arabs have been the majority.
Abdul-Mehdi also stressed that Kurds can be assured of top
government posts in the new government “as a gesture for the unity
of all Iraqis.”
US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad reiterated the US’ continuing support
for the rebuilding of Iraq and congratulated the lawmakers, saying
that “it is important to remember the past that has ben suffered.
The people of Iraq and the people of Kurdistan, in particular, have
suffered a great deal to get to this day.”
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