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| Iraq-Jordan |
| Iraqi Kurds threaten to resign |
| 2004-06-09 |
| Kurdish members of Iraq’s government could resign from their posts in response to the failure of the new UN resolution to recognise Kurdish autonomy, a senior Kurdish minister warned today. The resolution endorses the transfer of sovereignty to Iraq’s newly-formed government by the end of June, while allowing US-led forces to remain in the country. However, it does not endorse Iraq’s interim constitution - agreed in March - which enshrines the principles of federalism and guarantees autonomy for Kurds in three northern Iraqi provinces. Before the UN vote, the leaders of the two main Kurdish parties - Jalal Talabani, of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, and Massoud Barzani, of the Kurdistan Democratic party - threatened to withdraw Kurdish officials from the interim government unless the federal charter was included in the resolution. Today, the public works minister Nasreen Berwari, one of the Kurdish officials appointed to the new government, said democracy had been "usurped". "If the [Kurdish political] leadership calls on us to withdraw from the government, then we will do so. All the struggles we made last year have been lost," she added. Ms Berwari said she fully supported the position of Mr Talabani and Mr Barzani, adding that the lack of endorsement for the interim constitution was a rejection of all minority rights. "This is not what we fought for, what we committed to and what we sacrificed for - we’re very disappointed in the United States," she told Reuters. She said she and other Kurdish ministers were awaiting word from Kurdish leaders on what action to take, and explained that a decision was expected shortly. "I am standing by my leadership. We will continue to talk - this is not the end - but we really thought that everyone would find it in themselves to recognise the rights laid down in the interim constitution," she said. However, Iraq’s foreign minister Hoshyar Zebari - the first Kurd to hold the post - said the new resolution included the "spirit" of the interim constitution, even though it made no direct mention of it. Council diplomats said Mr Zebari was told that a reference to the interim constitution would not be included because it would almost certainly cause Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq’s most powerful Shia cleric, to rescind his support for the resolution. The cleric feared the document would give the Kurds and the Sunni Arabs a veto when a permanent constitution was put to a vote. Despite the mixed response from some Kurdish politicians, however, other Iraqi leaders and foreign politicians hailed the new resolution. In London, the foreign secretary, Jack Straw, said it was a "significant step" towards a free Iraq. Mr Straw said the resolution set out a clear path to a democratic and stable Iraq, with a sovereign government in place by the end of the month. Speaking at the foreign office, he said: "The people of Iraq have the united support of the whole of the international community as they prepare to take that path to a democratic future." His comments were echoed by the Iraqi prime minister, Ayad Allawi, who sought to play down concerns that the new resolution failed to clarify whether the Iraqi leadership would be able to veto US-led military operations. Mr Allawi told Fox news in an interview, to be aired tonight: "The sovereignty is going to be total, is going to be complete. We ask in fact and we want the ... multinational forces to help us to face the security threats until such a time that we are able to build our own security and move ahead." |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |