Kurds And Sunnis Sign Historic Deal To Advance Political Reconciliation
Sulaimaniya, Dec 24, (VOI)- Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said that the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Iraqi Islamic Party signed on Monday a trilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in the city of Sulaimaniya.
It envisages an agreement over applying article 140 of the Iraqi constitution and denouncing the Turkish bombing on villages in northern Iraq.
After signing the MoU in Dukan resort in Sulaimaniya, the leaders of the three parties: Talabani of the PUK and Massoud Barzani of the KDP and Tareq al-Hashemi, secretary general of the Iraqi Islamic party, held a joint press conference.
Speaking at the press conference, President Talabani said “today a tripartite MoU was signed between the two main Kurdish parties and the Iraqi Islamic part to boost ties among them and to foster Iraq’s unity.”
For his part, Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi said the agreement will have important impacts on the political process, underlining “today is a historic day in the ongoing political process.”
The Iraqi Islamic Party is a Sunni Islamist political party in Iraq and one of the main components of the Iraqi Accordance Front (IAF), the thrid largest parliamentary bloc in the Iraqi Parliament, which has 44 seats out of the 275-seat parliament.
Commenting on the Turkish shelling, al-Hashemi said “my position is clear amd the Islamic party had denounced the bombing.”
On applying artilce 140 of the Iraqi constitution, the head of the Islamic party said “my position has been determined by signing the MoU, the disagreement with Kurds was because of the timing.”
Article 140 of the Iraqi Constitution relates to the normalization of the situation in Kirkuk, an important and mixed city of Kurds, Turkmen, Christians, and Arabs. Kurds seek to include the city in the autonomous Iraq’s Kurdistan region, while Sunni Arabs, Turkmen, and Shiite Arabs oppose the incorporation.
The article currently stipulates that all Arabs in Kirkuk be returned to their original locations in southern and central Iraqi areas, and formerly displaced residents returned to Kirkuk.
Al-Hashemi also referred to the Presidential council’s position on the execution of the Anfal sentences, by saying “there is a disagreement between the council and other parties. The Supreme criminal court’s sentences have not been sent to the presidential council yet and if we receive them, the council will hold a meeting to discuss ratifying them or not.”
He stressed on the importance of integrating the awakening council into the current government.
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Political progress has been painfully slow for the Iraqis.
Progress is progress though, no matter how slight.
This by definition is news and will have be picked up by the major media outlets. Right?
Hello CNN, MSNBC, NBC, CBS, ABC, NYT?
December 25th, 2007 at 9:41 amHello is there anybody out there?……Hello….is this thing on?
when you think that the oil law would be approve
December 28th, 2007 at 11:35 amis this good news for the value of dinars?
December 30th, 2007 at 6:37 amFuck pkk
March 3rd, 2008 at 6:18 am