Iraq's Kurds May Drop Demand for Right to Secede As Talks Stall Over Role of
Islam, Oil Wealth
Saturday, August 20, 2005 09:12:19 AM
Talks on Iraq's new constitution have stalled over the role of Islam and the
distribution of the country's oil wealth, negotiators said Saturday. The
leadership of the country's Kurdish minority said it may drop its
contentious demand for the right to secede.
In Mosul, U.S. troops and Iraqi police clashed with insurgents Saturday,
killing three of them and seizing a car used in the kidnapping-slaying of
three members of the Iraqi Islamic Party the day before, police said.
Police Brig. Gen. Saeed Ahmed al-Jbouri said it was unclear if the three
insurgents killed were among those who grabbed three Sunnis on Friday as
they hung posters encouraging people to register and vote in the Oct. 15
referendum. The Sunnis later were killed near a mosque.
Iraqis have until Monday night to complete work on the draft constitution or
else parliament must dissolve. The United States is putting intense pressure
on negotiators to finish the charter, which Washington hopes will in time
take the steam out of the insurgency.
Mullah Bakhtiyar, a senior official from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan,
the political party of Iraq's President Jalal Talabani, said all parties
were showing flexibility in order to finish drafting the constitution.
"As for the self-determination for the Kurds, this issue did not enjoy the
support of Sunnis or Shiites, and we almost gave up this demand," Bakhtiyar
said.
The Kurds have enjoyed de-facto independence since 1991. If they drop their
demand to guarantee the right of self-determination _ a code word for
eventual secession that goes beyond mere federalism _ it would represent a
major concession and remove an obstacle to agreement on the charter.
But a comprehensive compromise on a constitutional draft remained elusive,
with the main outstanding dispute focusing on the role of Islam in the new
state, pitting Kurds and secular groups against Islamist parties
representing Iraq's Shiite majority.
"As for the issue of Islam's role, negotiations are still underway,"
Bakhtiyar told The Associated Press from the Kurdish city of Sulaimaniyah.
On Saturday, leaders of all factions continued a series of meetings in
Baghdad's fortified Green Zone.
Saleh al-Mutlaq, a Sunni representative on the drafting committee, said the
talks had bogged down after "deep differences" emerged. He said Shiites were
demanding that the new charter explicitly state that the decrees of their
religious leadership were sacred _ something both the Sunnis and Kurds
oppose.
Shiite lawmaker Saad Jawad Kandil said the division of Iraq's potentially
vast oil revenues also remained unresolved, along with the question of
whether federal units could maintain relations with foreign states.
Shiites insist that foreign affairs should be the job of the central
government, while the Kurds prefer that each region have the right to
maintain ties with other countries, Kandil said.
As the Monday deadline to finish the constitution approached, Sunni Arabs
and some Shiites rallied in Baghdad and elsewhere Friday to protest calls
for a federated state.
On Saturday, about 5,000 people gathered outside the main mosque in the
western city of Ramadi to condemn the constitutional process.
In the northern oil city of Kirkuk, several hundred Arabs demonstrated
against the charter, chanting, "Yes to unity! No to federalism!"
"We are against federalism (because) we believe that federalism is a step
toward separation," said Arab city council member Mohammed Khalil.
In the 1980s, former President Saddam Hussein displaced thousands of Kurds
from Kirkuk and replaced them with Arab settlers. The city, which the Kurds
seek to incorporate into their territory, has been the scene of ethnic
tensions the past two years.
According to Article 58 in the interim constitution, all Iraqis, including
Kurds, displaced under Saddam's regime have the right to return to their
homes or receive compensation. Political leaders appear to have agreed on
implementing Article 58 before general elections are held Dec. 15.
The United States believes the key to defeating the Sunni-dominated
insurgency is to encourage an inclusive political process that would prompt
disaffected Sunni Arabs to lay down arms.
On Friday, a Kurdish official who participated in the negotiations said the
United States was pressuring the Kurds to accept demands of Shiites and
Sunnis on the role of Islam in government in order to reach agreement.
The entire process hinges on the success of the drafting committee in
producing a constitution acceptable to all Iraqi communities by Monday's
deadline. If parliament approves the draft, it goes to voters for
ratification in October.
In recent weeks, various Sunni groups _ which boycotted January's
parliamentary elections _ have been urging fellow Sunnis to vote in the
referendum and a general election planned for December. The
voter-registration deadline is Sept. 1.
The boycott left the once-dominant community with few seats in a parliament
dominated by Shiites and Kurds, and reduced its influence in the political
maneuvering surrounding the draft charter.
On Friday, masked gunmen killed three Sunni Arab members of the Islamic
Party in front of horrified witnesses outside a Mosul mosque after grabbing
them as they hung posters urging fellow Sunnis to vote in the referendum.
On Saturday, men inside a car used in the kidnappings and killings fired at
a patrol of U.S. military and Iraqi police. The patrol returned fire,
setting the BMW on fire and killing three men inside, al-Jbouri said.
In other developments, Ramadi police reported on Friday that U.S. warplanes
bombed a house, destroying it but causing no casualties. Police Capt. Nassir
Al-Alousi said the house was empty at the time.
A statement released by the U.S. military Saturday said only that Air Force
F-16s and Royal Air Force GR-4s "provided close air support to coalition
troops" in the area. It gave no further details.
In Baghdad, two policemen were killed in a gunfight on Saturday morning with
militants near Al-Shurta tunnel in the Amiryaa neighborhood, Capt. Talib
Thamir said.
Unidentified gunmen also shot and killed two civilians in the Al-Amil
district, and a mortar shell exploded in the capital's Mansour neighborhood,
injuring a woman, police said.
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