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Iraq: Kurdish parliamentarian says talks
continue to form moderates' bloc
26.7.2007
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July
26, 2007
Baghdad, Iraq, -- Independent Kurdish
parliamentarian Mahmoud Othman told RFE/RL Iraq
analyst Kathleen Ridolfo on July 24 that Shi'ite and
Kurdish leaders are still in talks to form a
so-called moderates' front in the Iraqi National
Assembly. Othman discussed overtures made to the
Sunni-led Iraqi Islamic Party to join the front.
RFE/RL: Can you tell us about the efforts that are
being undertaken to form a moderates' front [in the
parliament]?
Mahmoud Othman:
There are efforts to bring together four parties.
Already they have signed some documents [towards
this, but] it's not declared yet. They call them
moderates because there are other [coalitions] like
Sadrists [supporters of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr],
like some other parts of the Arab Sunni list and so
on. |
Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish legislator, member of the
Kurdistan National Democratic Union |
These four parties, which are Al-Da'wah Party, SCIRI
[now SIIC, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council], KDP
[Kurdistan Democratic Party] and PUK [Patriotic
Union of Kurdistan], they have been friends for a
long time. They were in the opposition together, so
they have a lot of things in common, these people.
They are trying to bring in the Iraqi Islamic Party
so there will be at least five [parties], and it
will [then] include all the elements of Iraqi
society -- the Arab Sunnis, the Arab Shi'ites, the
Kurds, and everybody -- and then they will declare
[the formation of the front]. So, I don't know
whether the efforts [to include] the Islamic Party
will succeed or not. They are now in the process of
[trying to elicit] others to join the front.
RFE/RL: The Iraqi Islamic Party said two days ago
that they have conditions that must be met before
they would consider joining the front.
Othman: Yes,
there are some conditions. They say they have been
marginalized by the government. They are not part of
the decision-making [process] and they think they
are marginalized and they think there is no balance
in the courts -- the high courts of the state --
they mean between Sunnis and Shi'a. So they think
they should be given more attention, the Arab Sunni
side should have [a greater] role in the government,
and they shouldn't be marginalized.
That means they [should] say which political
formula, that means them joining this front, should
go [hand in hand] with an executive formula which
guarantees that they have more rights in the
government.
They have these conditions and they have already
presented a memorandum to the prime minister [Nuri
al-Maliki]. They have [presented] a memorandum to
the Americans [and] to the parliament. So, those
things are discussed, two parallel lines -- one
political, one executive. We don't know how things
will go but we hope there will be some success.
RFE/RL: There were reports in the Iraqi newspapers
on July 21 that the cabinet might be changed and
maybe there will be a Sunni Arab president. Is there
any truth to these reports?
Othman: There
will be a change in the cabinet, but that is only to
fill the vacancies. There are now seven vacancies in
the cabinet. Six ministries are vacant because the
Sadrists withdrew; a seventh position is vacant
because an Iraqi deputy minister resigned. Also
there is [an eighth] vacant because of the
controversy over the Iraqi culture minister [As'ad
al-Hashimi, who is accused in a 2005
assassination]....So, there should be eight or seven
ministers appointed to fill these vacancies.
This is the only thing which is going on now. But
there is no talk of changing the whole cabinet. If
those talks on the political and executive changes
go [ahead], then there may be a change of a bigger
[nature].
RFE/RL: But there's no talk of changing the
president?
Othman: No,
there's no talk. Some people...have been saying that
it's better to have a Sunni Arab president because
the foreign minister is Kurdish and the president is
Kurdish, so one of them [in the Sunni Arab view]
should be [a Sunni Arab]. But now nobody talks about
this, I mean nobody has put any motion [forward]
either in the parliament or in the cabinet.
RFE/RL: The Shi'a and the Kurds are hoping that the
Islamic Party will join their moderates' front but
it doesn't appear that the Islamic Party is prepared
to leave the Iraqi Accordance Front.
Othman: No, they
will not leave. Each [party] will not leave its main
bloc. There is a cooperation between these parties
to create a bigger bloc in parliament to cooperate
with each other. But it doesn't mean that any of
these parties will leave their original blocs,
parliamentarian blocs. They will stay there. But
they have the right, according to the blocs'
program, to make coalitions in cooperation with
other parties within the political process.
RFE/RL: So, the Islamic Party will remain with the
Accordance Front, but they may join the moderates'
front?
Othman: Yes.
RFE/RL: Do you believe that the other parties to the
Accordance Front will join the moderates' front?
Othman: I really
don't know, but they may because the moderates'
front or what they call the moderates' front --
there is no [official] name for it yet -- it is open
to other parties [and] the other political parties
could join [as well]. [The front] is not closed [to
other parties].
RFE/RL: Iyad Allawi has been working to form a new
front for secularists. Will he join this front or
pursue his own front?
Othman: Well,
Iyad Allawi says there is no secularism [now] and
[he believes] everything is based on the sects
[religious or ethnic]. But still he is the head of
one bloc and he has a party also. It's up to him. As
far as I heard from his party, they don't mind if he
accepts those principles [of the moderates' front].
He could come into negotiations and join but I think
he has no intention to join, based on his previous
[public statements].
RFE/RL: KDP head and Kurdish regional President
Mas'ud Barzani will travel to Baghdad this week and
there are reports that the political parties may
meet to discuss the formal establishment of the
moderates' front....
Othman:
[Barzani] will be in Baghdad on Tuesday [July
24]...and I think when he comes, we will know a few
things about the general issues and about this front
also because he is the leader of the Kurdistan
region and he is the leader of the [Kurdistan]
Democratic Party. So when there is a summit between
the political leaders, he will be there and he will
join them.
rferl org
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