October 28, 2010Who Wins Kurdish Support, Maliki or Allawi?
ERBIL, Iraqi Kurdistan: As the main himslef Iyad Allawi,the leader of the top vot-getter was in Erbil, an advisor to the coalition known as Iraqiya said that his bloc is ready to meet most Kurdish conditions to join an alliance with them in order to form a new government for the country almost 8 months after the elections.
But a leader of the rival State of Law Coalition, led by led by the caretaker PM Nouri al-Maliki, beleived that the meetings between Presidnet of the Kurdistan Region, Massoud Barzani, and Iyad Allawi will not make Kurds support Allawi, whose coalition has the support of the Sunnis, over Maliki, whose coalition is a Shitte one.
Iraq’s political groups continue to grapple over the make-up of the country’s future government nearly eight months after parliamentary elections. The elections did not produce a clear winner leading to a major political crisis in the country.
But on Thursday a high-ranking Kurdish official who spoke on the conidition of anonymity after the Barzani-Allawi meeting expected the formation of a government in which Maliki remains Maliki and Kurds will be key makers.
Hani Ashur, advisor to Iraqiya said, “after a meeting between Iraqiya’s leaders, as a matter of principle they reached an agreement on the demands of Kurds but some elements within al-Iraqiya have reservations” on an alliance between the group and the Kurds.
Some key leaders within al-Iraqiya such as Salih al-Mutlak and Usama Nujaifi have publicly expressed their opposition to some of the major Kurdish conditions to join a government coalition.
Iraqiya came first in the March elections with 91 seats while the State of Law ended up a close second with 89 seats. None of the groups has the 163-seat majority needed to form a government nor been successful in creating larger coalitions with other groups to do so.
The Kurdistani Alliance, a gathering of Kurdish groups in the Iraqi parliament is the fourth largest parliamentary bloc with 57 seats.
The Kurds submitted a 19-point paper to other Iraqi blocs outlining their conditions to join any future government. Among the major Kurdish demands are resolving the fate of disputed territories according to the national Constitution, and commitment to preserving the federal structure of the Iraqi state.
Among the major disputed areas are the oil-rich Kirkuk and parts of Nineveh, Salahaddin and Diyala provinces in northern Iraq.
Ashur told Rudaw in a telephone interview from the Jordanian capital, Amman, that “most of the components of Iraqiya want Kurds to join them in forming a governing coalition alongside the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq [ISCI] and the Fadhila Party.”
Both ISCI and Fadhila are Shia parties that have broken away from their alliance with the State of Law, after it has reached an agreement with the Sadrists, an anti-American shitte group.
But Ashur also said that some lawmakers within Iraqiya do not want an alliance with the Kurds.
He said that his group only has “reservations” over a couple of Kurdish conditions including the fate of the disputed territories between the Iraqi Arabs and Kurds.
He stated that his group wants the country’s Constitution to be amended in a way so as to reflect the new realities on the ground in Iraq. Kurds oppose any major changes to the constitution that would affect the extent of the powers of their autonomous government in Kurdistan.
Ashur added that his group seeks a “more appropriate solution” to the fate of disputed territories than the one proposed in Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution but provided no details on his group’s solutions.
The controversial article demands a referendum on the fate of those territories whereby the residents of those areas determine whether they want to be under the jurisdiction of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) or the Iraqi government. Many of the Iraqi Arab parties oppose the article.
But on his part, Izzat Shabandar, a leader in the SLC believes that the statements by Iraqiya leaders about agreeing to Kurdish demands are just attempts to gain the support of Kurds to form the government without an actual commitment to carrying them out.
“They are now disappointed and want to drive a wedge between the Kurds and the National Coalition (of which the State of Law is the major component) and keep Kurds away from participating in the future government,” Shabandar told Rudaw.
Some members of Maliki’s group had earlier said they will accept 18 of the 19 conditions except one which states the future government will be automatically dissolved if the Kurds withdraw from it. But it is not clear yet if this is the official position of the State of Law and its allies or the personal opinion of some lawmakers within the group.
The Kurds say that point will offer them a guarantee that the government will not back down from carrying out its promises.
On his part, Mahmoud Osman, a prominent Kurdish lawmaker in the Iraqi parliament said, “It is hard for Kurds and Iraqiya to become allies.”
He said that the Kurds’ talks with Maliki’s State of Law have been “more productive” than the negotiations with Iraqiya.
“What Iraqiya has said about their willingness to meet the Kurdish demands is not likely to change things that much for Kurds. Despite all their differences with Maliki, Kurds get on better with him than some leaders in Iraqiya who essentially have problems with the very existence of the Kurds,”said Osman.
Ashur said if a government is formed in the future with Iraqiya’s participation, the best candidate to lead that government would be Adel Abdul-Mahdi from the ISCI due to the deep differences existing between Iraqiya and the SLC. He said that the United States, Turkey and Arab countries will be also more receptive to a government that includes Iraqiya.
Ashur added that it will take a week of “intensive negotiations” between the Kurds, Iraqiya and the ISCI for the government to be formed.
Meanwhile, Maysun al-Damaluji, an Iraqiya leader told Rudaw that the leaders in her group are convinced that they should “deal with the Kurdish demands more fearlessly and frankly and this is what has pushed us to say we accept the majority of Kurdish demands.’
“Al-Iraqiya and Kurds share a lot of problems and these problems will be resolved through alliance not opposing one another. This is the new belief among the leaders of Iraqiya; so the Kurds know whom they should form an alliance with.”
She said her bloc will likely adopt an even “softer” position toward the Kurdish demands in the coming days.
http://www.einnews.com/iraq/
