Friday, September 17th 2010
Barzani asks Iraqis to agree on govt program first and then PM
Baghdad, Kurdistan Region’s President Massoud Barzani will present an initiative to Iraqi parliamentary blocs asking them to focus on the future government's program first and then on who should become the prime minister, said a prominent Kurdish lawmaker in the Iraqi parliament.
Speaking to AKnews on Friday, Mahmoud Othman said, "Focusing on the prime minister's post and even agreeing on a candidate for the post may not solve the problem, because there needs to be areas of common agreement in the government’s program (for it to succeed). So, if there is an agreement on the prime minister's post but no agreement on the government program, it will be useless."
"The political blocs must agree on all issues in the country so that the government will be free from problems emanating from disputes between the blocs," said Mahmoud who is a member of the Kurdistan Blocs Coalition (KBC)’s negotiating team in Baghdad.
With 57 seats in the Iraqi parliament, the KBC is an umbrella group of all Kurdish factions that have parliamentary deputies in Baghdad.
"The Kurds are accused of being far from the negotiations conducted to form the government....The Kurds have drafted a negotiating paper that addresses the whole political process and today the (Kurdistan) region's president seeks to launch an initiative in the same context."
The KBC has submitted a 19-point negotiating paper to other Iraqi groups that contains Kurdish preconditions for entering into any future government coalition.
Implementing the constitutional Article 140, resolving disagreements with Baghdad over issues such as oil and gas and the status of Kurdish Peshmarga forces as well as the allocation of senior posts in the next government to Kurds are among the major Kurdish demands.
Article 140 sets a roadmap to resolve territorial disputes between Kurds and other ethnic groups in the country. Among the major disputed areas is the oil-rich province of Kirkuk.
The Kurdish parties also insist that the outgoing President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, should retain office for another four-year term.
Nearly seven months after parliamentary elections were held, Iraqi political forces are still mired in a stalemate over the composition of the country’s next government.
http://www.aknews.com
Barzani asks Iraqis to agree on govt program first and then PM
Baghdad, Kurdistan Region’s President Massoud Barzani will present an initiative to Iraqi parliamentary blocs asking them to focus on the future government's program first and then on who should become the prime minister, said a prominent Kurdish lawmaker in the Iraqi parliament.
Speaking to AKnews on Friday, Mahmoud Othman said, "Focusing on the prime minister's post and even agreeing on a candidate for the post may not solve the problem, because there needs to be areas of common agreement in the government’s program (for it to succeed). So, if there is an agreement on the prime minister's post but no agreement on the government program, it will be useless."
"The political blocs must agree on all issues in the country so that the government will be free from problems emanating from disputes between the blocs," said Mahmoud who is a member of the Kurdistan Blocs Coalition (KBC)’s negotiating team in Baghdad.
With 57 seats in the Iraqi parliament, the KBC is an umbrella group of all Kurdish factions that have parliamentary deputies in Baghdad.
"The Kurds are accused of being far from the negotiations conducted to form the government....The Kurds have drafted a negotiating paper that addresses the whole political process and today the (Kurdistan) region's president seeks to launch an initiative in the same context."
The KBC has submitted a 19-point negotiating paper to other Iraqi groups that contains Kurdish preconditions for entering into any future government coalition.
Implementing the constitutional Article 140, resolving disagreements with Baghdad over issues such as oil and gas and the status of Kurdish Peshmarga forces as well as the allocation of senior posts in the next government to Kurds are among the major Kurdish demands.
Article 140 sets a roadmap to resolve territorial disputes between Kurds and other ethnic groups in the country. Among the major disputed areas is the oil-rich province of Kirkuk.
The Kurdish parties also insist that the outgoing President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, should retain office for another four-year term.
Nearly seven months after parliamentary elections were held, Iraqi political forces are still mired in a stalemate over the composition of the country’s next government.
http://www.aknews.com
