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Full Text: The New Shi'a-Kurdish Alliance
in Iraq
18.8.2007
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August 18, 2007
BAGHDAD, -- Four ruling Iraqi parties have
agreed to a "new" political alliance and set of
principles after intense deliberation. As reported
earlier, the Shi'a Islamic Da'wa Party and Supreme
Iraqi Islamic Council have
signed an agreement with the two
principal Kurdish parties, the Patriotic Union of
Kurdistan and the Kurdistan Democratic Party.
Notably absent from the "new" agreement are any
Sunni Arab political forces. The Iraqi Islamic Party
of Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi left the
negotiations.
Also absent are any other opposition groups,
including the secular Iraqi National List of former
Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, and the Shi'a
groups that have most harshly criticized the
government of the Islamic Da'wa Party's PM Nuri al-Maliki,
namely the Sadrist bloc and the Fadhila Party.
Indeed, the four signatory Shi'a and Kurdish parties
already share power, and represent, respectively,
the major pro-government constituents of the Shi'a
and Kurdish blocs that entered into alliance to form
the parliamentary majority after the December 2005
elections. |
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki (2nd L) talks
to President Jalal Talabani (2nd R) while Massoud
Barzani, President of autonomous Kurdstan region
(L), shakes hands with Adel Abdul-Mahdi, Shiite Vice
President (R), after signing an agreement for a new
alliance of moderate Shiites and Kurds, in Baghdad
August 16, 2007 |
Full text of the agreement appears in translation
below, as reported in Arabic by the Iraqi agency al-Malaf
Press:
In the name of God the Merciful, the Compassionate
The National Principals for the Agreement of the
Political Forces, and the Working Mechanisms.
Based on the depth of the historical and comradely
relationships between the Iraqi political forces
that struggled and strove in their opposition to the
defunct Saddamist system until its overthrow, and
for the sake of supporting the pioneering democratic
experiment of the Iraqi people to realize its
ambitions and its welfare by building a secure and
stable Iraq, in control of its sovereignty over all
of its territory, some of the fundamental political
forces on the Iraqi scene have initiated a
discussion of the current conditions in the country
and the terrorist onslaught by the takfiris and
Saddamists in their effort to abort the gains of our
people and to move the country backwards, and the
need to confront these criminal gangs with a deeper
national unity. After deliberations, (these
political forces) reached an agreement to unify
their ranks for the sake of realizing national
accord and reconciliation, and guiding the
government and making it succeed, in light of the
following basic national principles:
In the political aspect:
1) The need for unity and cooperation for the sake
of making the political process – which cannot be
dismembered geographically – succeed, and pushing it
in the direction of absorbing representatives of all
the components and forces on the Iraqi political
scene with transparency and openness between the
different parties in confronting the political,
security, and economic challenges.
2) The agreement of the political partners who
participate in the political process to the
following principles:
a) Commitment to the political process and to the
bases of the democratic, federal system in place in
Iraq.
b) Real participation in power of all the political
partners and avoiding the politics of exclusion or
isolation.
c) The political partners bear responsibility for
building the state and the country in the interests
of the homeland and its
citizens, and commitment to the programs of the
declared government.
3) The treatment of problems inherited from the past
era that reflected negatively on the relations
between the different Iraqi groups.
4) The unification of the national position in
regional and international cooperation in a way that
enhances the sovereignty of Iraq and guarantees the
reconciliation of its people and protects the
democratic experiment and thwarts the criminal plans
that intend to push (Iraq) backwards.
In the aspects of the
(Iraqi) state:
5) The strengthening of the constitutional
institutions and the commitment to them, and
increasing the effectiveness of the Council of
Deputies to accomplish their legislative and
regulatory responsibilities, and (strengthening)
cooperation between the parliamentary blocs.
6) Supporting the Iraqi government to succeed in its
political, economic, security, and service program
in order to provide the best services to the Iraqi
people.
7) Speedy completion of the stages of application of
article 140 of the constitution and the activation
and support of the committees concerned with its
application, and the attempt to adhere to the
timetable in the matter concerned, in the two
paragraphs related to the settlement of matters in
Kirkuk, and the disputed areas along the borders of
the governorates, according to the constitution.
8) Deepening the cooperation and coordination
between the federal government and the government of
the Kurdistan region in the security and military
area and in combating terrorism.
9) Increased cooperation between the federal
government and the regional governments and the
governments of the provinces not organized into
regions, in the security, economic, political, and
social fields, and in all other fields in what
strengthens the federal government on the one hand,
and what strengthens the local governments on the
other,
according to the constitution.
10) Agreement on the timetables for achieving the
political, legal, security, and economic
accomplishments.
11) Activation of Iraqi diplomacy to defend Iraq and
its democratic experiment.
12) Support of the security plan to protect the
security of the citizens, and the review of this
plan in order to enhance it to remove its
deficiencies and gaps.
13) Working to complete the process of building,
training, equipping, and forming the military and
security apparatus.
14) Adoption of a unified position on the presence
of foreign forces to promote the sovereignty and
independence of Iraq.
In the economic and
services aspects:
15) Improvement of the standard of living for the
citizens and the provision of services, (achieving)
this by review of the economic plan and enhancing
the oversight of the implementing agencies to
guarantee the provision of basic services to the
citizens, and to raise the economic level (of the
citizens), especially of the disadvantaged classes
and the families of martyrs, and those victimized in
the time of the previous regime.
16) Diagnosis of the difficulties and obstacles that
stand as a barrier to the activation of the various
agencies of the state (and which prevent them) from
undertaking their duties with regards to the
citizens, and combating administrative and financial
corruption.
17) Preservation of the national wealth and
developing it in order that it be returned to the
benefit and welfare of all sons of the Iraqi people.
Working Mechanisms:
1) Agreement on the periodic meetings of political
leaders and that these meetings be meetings of
decision making.
2) Agreement on the agenda of policies and goals
that are to be achieved in the next stage.
3) A mechanism for implementing decisions through
the activation of the role of official institutions
and cooperation
between the political blocs.
4) The formation of a general secretariat to
undertake the role of following and coordination and
develop an internal system (among the parties to
this agreement).
5) Agreement on coordination of media agencies among
the political powers.
6) Continuing to work with other parties, especially
the Sunni Arabs in order to consolidate the internal
front (among the signatory parties) and to enhance
participation in power.
7) This agreement represents the first stage, and
remains open to all those who wish to work to
support the political process.
8) The agreement on the joint mechanism and a
unified position in cooperation on the regional and
international axis over the success of the political
project from the Iraqi viewpoint.
9) Activation of weekly or periodical meetings
between the presidency and the prime minister’s
office, in order to handle issues concerning the
government’s achievements in compliance with the
constitutional powers of the presidency, in
recognition of its role in assuring the
implementation of the constitution, and (in
recognition of) the constitutional powers of the of
the prime minister’s office, considering that it is
the direct implementing authority, as well as the
general commander of the armed forces and the powers
of the Council of Ministers and the ministries,
according to the terms and powers specified in by
constitution.
10) The parties intend to agree on a unified
position, and in the case of differences, the
parties commit not to oppose these positions set out
in this agreement, and not to weaken one another.
(Signatories)
The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan
The Islamic Da'wa Party
The Kurdistan Democratic Party
The Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council
Baghdad, August 16, 2007
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