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Iraqi president agrees to share power and
avoid a split in his Kurd party
18.2.2009
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February 18, 2009
SULAIMANIYAH, Kurdistan region 'Iraq', —
President Jalal Talabani agreed on Tuesday to share
power within his Kurdish PUK party to avoid a split
which would have weakened the group ahead of polls
in Kurdistan region in Iraq's north.
Talabani, who is chief of the Patriotic Union of
Kurdistan (PUK), "accepted the demands of the five
leaders who submitted their resignations,www.ekurd.netso
as to prevent them leaving the party," a PUK
official told AFP.
The five high-ranking officials submitted their
resignation on Saturday,
citing differences over how to tackle corruption.
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Iraqi President : Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, Secretary
General
of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) |
Kosrat Rasul, who is vice president of the
Kurdistan regional government (KRG) in northern
Iraq, said he was resigning along with four members
of the political office.
Efforts to fight corruption and improve democracy in
both the regional government and the PUK were among
the issues in dispute.
Main points of the
agreement between Talabani and his deputies
A source close to the five leadership members of the
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan who resigned last week,
told the Kurdish Newspaper 'Awene' that Jalal Talabani
and his two deputies, Kosrat Rasul and Barham Saleh,
have reached an agreement to resolve the issues.
The source said that the two sides, Talabani and
Saleh on one side and Rasul on the other side, have
signed a written agreement to resolve the issues.
Rasul and four other leading PUK members last week
submitted their letters of resignation because of
what news reports suggested the party's failure to
address several problems within the party.
The source mentioned the main points of the
agreement as following:
- Changing PUK representatives in the Kurdistan
Regional Government.
- Changing chairmen of PUK branches.
- Revealing the finance of the party to the
Politburo.
- Security apparatus such as PUK's Zanyari
(intelligence) apparatus must be under the auspices
of one of Talabani's deputies.
- Reconciliation among all PUK factions including
"Rag" members who were dismissed from the party a
while ago.
- Talabani's deputies will preside implementing the
agreement.
On Monday the
PUK leader
Fouad Massoum told the London-based al-Sharq
al-Awssat newspaper that neither Rasul nor any
leader resigned.
But the source, declining to be named, said the
veteran PUK leader, who founded the party in 1975,
has accepted terms to allow more transparency in the
party's finances and for supervision of the group's
intelligence services.
Under a pact signed by Talabani in Baghdad, the PUK
will also open a dialogue with former dissident
senior members who walked out of the party, the
official said.
The Kurdistan region, which operates autonomously
from Baghdad and benefited from the 1991 Gulf War
over Kuwait in the form of US military protection,www.ekurd.netenacts
its own laws and has its own security forces.
The region, which is to hold elections to its
parliament in May, has since the 2003 US-led
liberation of Iraq enjoyed better security than the
rest of the country, allowing it to attract foreign
investment.
Its three provinces -- Erbil, Duhok and Sulaimaniyah
-- are ruled with an iron fist by the PUK and the
Kurdistan Democratic Party headed by Massoud
Barzani, president of Kurdistan region.
Rival political parties have accused the PUK and
Barzani's party of accepting bribes to push through
lucrative contracts.
Copyright, respective
author or news agency,
AFP | Awene | Kurdish Aspect | Rudaw net | Agencies
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