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Kurdistan President Barzani: We work on
having warring factions reach common ground
6.4.2008
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April 6, 2008
Erbil-Hewler, Kurdistan region 'Iraq, --
Iraqi Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barzani
said "Kurds, after the great change in 2003, are
still playing an important role in finding a common
ground among the warring Iraqi groups."
“The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is keen to
establish strong ties with the "brothers" in the
Arab areas,” he said in an interview with Voices of
Iraq VOI.
"The Kurds represented and still represent an
essential pillar in the political process; before
the former regime was ousted, we were almost an
independent state, but the Kurdistan parliament
opted for unity with our Iraqi brothers outside of
the Kurdistan region," Barzani said.
"We still actively contribute to the political
process and in re-building a federal democratic
Iraq, as Kurds today play a key role in finding a
common ground between the disputing parties.” |
Massoud Barzani, the President of the autonomous Regional
Government of Kurdistan 'Iraq' |
On the notion that the Kurdish weight in the Iraqi
policy was minimized after the presence of new
alliances that stand up against the Kurdish demands,
Barzani said, "Those are only speculations,www.ekurd.net
because the Kurdish
weight is as it is and will not shrink. This weight
was approved by the constitution, which is a
socio-political charter between the Iraqi ethnic,
religious, sectarian, and cultural components."
In his answer about whether the U.S. stance
concerning the Turkish military operation, at the
northern borders of Iraq, "disappointed" the Kurds
he replied. "During the last operation, the U.S.
stance was good as the Americans asked Turkey to
withdraw its forces, not to harm the region, and to
resort to dialogue."
About the invitation that he addressed during the
Arab parliamentary conference to hold a dialogue
with the neighboring countries, his vision for this
dialogue's mechanisms, and whether it should be
achieved via the Iraqi central government or through
the KRG, he said, "I meant a dialogue between the
four parties – Kurds, Arabs, Turks and the Iranians.
This dialogue's mechanisms can be discussed on the
basis of amity, forgiveness and understanding and
refrain from the use of violence and wars to solve
existing problems."
Replying to a question by VOI on postponing article
140 of the Iraqi Constitution, and whether the Kurds
have run out of patience, he said, "We want to solve
this historic problem, as far as it was the reason
of all the fight that took place in the past,
between the Kurdish movement and the subsequent
Iraqi governments.”
“This problem can be solved via article 140. Leaving
this problem unsolved would leave a great threat
posed to the stability of Iraq,” he said.
Article 140 is related to normalization in Kirkuk,
an important and mixed city of Kurds, Turkmen,
Christians, Arabs and Assyrians.
Kurds seek to include the city in the autonomous
Iraq's Kurdistan region, while Sunni Muslims,
Turkmen, and Shiites oppose the incorporation. The
article currently stipulates that all Arabs in
Kirkuk be returned to their original locations in
southern and central Iraqi areas, and formerly
displaced residents returned to Kirkuk, 250 km
northeast of Baghdad.
The article also calls to conduct a census to be
followed by a referendum to allow inhabitants to
decide whether they would like Kirkuk to be annexed
to the autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan region or having
it as an independent province.
These stages were supposed to end on December 31,
2007, a deadline that was later extended by six
months.
The former regime of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein
forced over 250,000 Kurdish residents to give up
their homes to Arabs in the 1970s, to "Arabize" the
city and the region's oil industry.
Concerning the importance of holding the 55th
session of the Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union (AIPU)
in Erbil,www.ekurd.net
the capital city of
Kurdistan Region, on March 12, 2008, Barzani said,
"It was definitely an important event that broke the
psychological barrier, and will have a big effect on
building strong relations."
"Our Kurdish people have the intention and the
honest will to establish the strongest ties with
Arab countries, and will avoid any procedure that
might undermine these relations. We look forward to
having reciprocity," he said.
"There is clear evidence that prove that the Kurdish
leadership abides by the Arab–Kurdish brotherhood,
and it is enough to mention what this leadership had
done since the revolution of 1958 until the last
stage of Saddam's era, as we show honest political
efforts and readiness to find a solution that admits
our people's rights, within the framework of a
unified democratic federal Iraq," Barazani
explained.
Copyright, respective author or news agency,
VOI
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