KDP confirms government rotation - Kurdish Globe

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The Kurdish Globe No. 335, Saturday, January 07, 2012 2 Kurds must “use their aces wisely” Globe Editorial The fear of the disintegration of Iraq is hardly breaking news. A persistent theme of the past nineor so years of the new Iraq has been how to preserve unity and bring about true national reconciliation amongst a climate of deep misti trust. Iraq in its transition to democri racy may have achieved historical junctures, but it has often stumbled to its milestones as opposed to a painless arrival at its new dawn. More often than not, the major achievements in Iraq were undersi scored by heavy U.S. pressure and much political jockeyingand drama in Baghdad. As successive crises have brewed, asemblance of calm was somewhat reinstated in the short term by last-minute dealings,but too often at the expi pense of any long-term benefits. A policy of brushing key issues undi der the political rug always ran the risk of haunting the Iraqi political arena at some stage,and just days after the U.S.symbolic withdrawal from Iraq, another explosive crisis reared its ugly head in Iraq. If the issues are assessed at the surface, then one can argue that current turmoil was instigated by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’sissuance of an arrest warrant against Iraq's Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi and the subsequent ploy to sideline Sunni Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al- Mutlak from power. However, the water has been boiling on the sieve for several months, and for one reason or another, it wouldn’t have taken much to tip sentiments over the edge. Just take the current brittle coai alition that was remarkably conci cluded after 11 months and set an unwanted world record. That in itself sums up all that is needed to explain the current upheaval and instability. Even though Iyad Allawi’s predi dominantly Sunni-based al-Iraqiyi ya group was the ultimate victor at the polls, they were threatened withbeingmarginalised by al-Mali liki’s Shiite Coalition. Months of wrangling ensured agreement on power-sharing but more through Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki delivers a speech during a ceremony at Al-Shaab stadium complex in central Baghdad on December 31, 2011. gritted teeth than true brotherly reconciliation. Once al-Iraqiya didn’t get the power it demanded and real deci cision-makingauthority, it was only a question of time before the political landscape would be rocked once more. Almost two years since the national elections, a number of key positions remain unfilled and still in the hands of al-Maliki in what was supposedly a temporary basis. Turkish anxiety has dramatically increased by unfolding events, leading Ankara to go back and forth between Baghdad and Washi ington in recent weeks and warni ing about the dangers of an Iraqi disintegration. Although Turkey may have chosen to ignore reality for a while, the writing has been on the Iraqi wall for decades and particularly these past nine years. There is no danger of Iraqi fragmi mentation. It is already fragmentei ed, and now it’s only a question of just how far the disintegration will go; regional countries must accept that reality sooner or latei er. Democracy has been fraught with difficulty in Iraq with voting along heavy sectarian and ethnic lines. Voting has been almost akin to a de facto national census than a true national voice gathering exei ercise. While Turkey and neighbouri ing countries seemingly worked to promote national harmony and reconciliation in Iraq, ironically they have been responsible for the entrenchment of camps in Iraq. Successive Shiite governments have swayed heavily toward Tehri ran, whilst Sunni groups, essenti tially marginalised from power from their heyday under Saddam Hussein, have worked to force a hand at the political table through the threat of insurgency or through jockeying in the political chambers. Turkmen have used the big brother threat, calling on the support of Turkey to ensure their cards on the table are not ignored, while for the Kurds it has been a case of not letting the rest of Iraq drag the prosperous Kurdistan Region down with them and at the same time building strategic ties to boost their autonomous status and growing economic clout. How regional sectarian influence continues to grip Iraq can be seen with al-Maliki’s persistent support of the much maligned and underfire Bashar al-Assad in Syria. This week al-Iraqiya kept up their boycott of Iraq’s Parliament and Cabinet, accusing al-Maliki of monopolising power and not abiding by the terms that led to the eventual breakthroughof the current coalition. Accusations of the centralising of power by al-Maliki are hardly new; it was a frequent criticism throughout the last election term. With the importance of upholdi ing calm and dialogue seemingly at large, a national conference has been proposed that should be held sometime this month. A national conference may save the day in the short term as did the Erbil agreement, but true concord may prove elusive once more. No amount of political mani noeuvring at the end of the day can paper over deep mistrust and animosity. Even if national electi tions were held early, the end game would be the same. There is no guarantee that Iraq would not end up at the same juncture after new elections are held whilst the key ingredients that continuousli lypoison the political atmosphere remain. As for now, it is unlikely that al-Maliki will relinquish his firm grip on power. While al-Maliki has been under intense domestic and regional spotlight, he may esci cape this current escapade largely unscathed. Al-Iraqiya have used the threat of boycott, but with so many Sunnis in their ranks badly scarred from the boycott campi paignsof the previous campaigns, it is unclear just how far the loyai alty of their MPs stretch. The current political tension ALI AL-SAADI/AFP/Getty Images may have hurt al-Iraqiya further with 11 politicians already revi voking their ties to the alliance. Al-Iraqiya MPs are mindful that further boycotts or spotlight may see more positions of power reli linquished to the powerful Shiite alliance. The biggest danger is a coaliti tion without al-Iraqiya altogether where al-Maliki musters suppi port from Kurds and al-Iraqiya dissidents,a scenario that would certainly place sectarian tensions into overdrive. The recent spate of initiatives toward autonomy by predominantly Sunni provinces is an indicator of growing Sunni fear that preservation of local power aside, they may be confounded to a running battle to avoid being sidelined in Baghdad. The Kurds, who have attempted to remain neutral, once again find themselves with all the aces. Only with Kurdish support could al-Iraqiya spearhead a new govei ernment and only with Kurdish support could al-Maliki be ousted from government. Logic would dictate that after many failed promises by al-Mali liki toward the Kurds, including the lack of implementation of the vast majority of conditions that he signed up to as a prelude to Kurdi ish support, the Kurds would side with al-Iraqiya. However, the new crisis and the key Kurdish role of calming tensions, gives the opporti tunity for the Kurds to preserve al-Maliki’s seat and the current coalition, but no doubt with much sterner warningsand conditions for the Shiite Alliance and al-Mali liki. The fact remains that all too ofti ten al-Maliki has boldly reneged on agreements with Kurds and has simply gotten away with it, even as the Kurds have saved al-Mali liki’s political skin on more than one occasion. The issue of dispi puted territories remains as open and pertinent as ever, Baghdad remains at loggerheads with the Kurds on oil sharing, and Baghdi dad has hardly provided a positive endorsement of growing Kurdish strategic clout and prosperity. It is time for the Kurds to use their aces wisely. Bashdar Pusho Ismaeel Weekly paper printed in Erbil First published in 2005 www.kurdishglobe.net info.kurdishglobe @gmail.com Address: Erbil, Bakhtiyari Quarter EXECUTIVE EDITOR Jawad Qadir EDITOR Azad Amin azad.kurdishglobe@gmail.com Senior U.S. Editor Suzanne DeRouen suzi.kurdishglobe@yahoo.com Associate U.S. Editor Elizabeth Schmitt elizabethschmitt@earthlink.net Senior U.K. Editor Bashdar Pusho Ismaeel bashdar@hotmail.com Ako Muhammed +964 750 4661936 ako.kurdishglobe@gmail.com Aiyob Mawloodi +964 750 4776905 aiyob.kurdishglobe@gmail.com Qassim Khidhir +964 750 4823081 qassim.kurdishglobe@gmail.com STAFF WRITERS Sazan M. Mandalawi sazan.kurdishglobe@gmail.com Zakaria Muhammed +964 750 475 3897 zakaria.kurdishglobe@gmail.com Hawzhen Rashadaddin +964 750 4707416 hawjin.kurdishglobe@gmail.com ARTS EDITOR Diyaco Qayoumy +964 750 4036252 diyaco.kurdishglobe@gmail.com Advertisement For information and prices of ad spots, please contact Globe’s Advertisement section: Rizgar Yahya rizgar.kurdishglobe@gmail.com Cell: +964 750 4055888 You can also check prices and packages by logging on to: kurdishglobe.net/ad Subscription The Kurdish Globe can be delivered to your office or home address, whether in Kurdistan or abroad. To subscribe: Please contact the Globe Distribution Section: Rauf Aspindarai rauf.kurdishglobe@gmail.com +964 750 4497976 You can also subscribe by logging onto: kurdishglobe.net/subscription
The Kurdish No. 335, Saturday, January 07, 2012 3 Key posts set to change in January KDP confirms government rotation Kurdistan Region's two governing parties are ready to change key posts in the government this month. Spokesman of Kurdistan Democi cratic Party, Jafar Ibrahi him on Jan. 3 confirmed that the change in posts will take place in Januai ary. He also said KDP is ready to take the post of prime minister of Kurdi istan Regional Governmi ment. Ibrahim added that the party’s only candidate to take that position is Nechirvan Barzani, a former KRG prime minister and KDP vice president. The spokesmi man said Barzani was out of the country but "he will return in comi ing days." KDP, led by Kurdistan Region President Massi soud Barzani and Patrioi otic Union of Kurdistan, led by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, are tied according to a strategic agreements to rotate high posts in the Region every two years. After the two parties won 2009 elections, PUK’s Dr. Barham Salih took the position of prime mini ister and Kamal Kirkuki from KDP became parli liament speaker. There were discussi sions about the rotation in September, but Presidi dent Massoud Barzani recommended delaying the issue to early 2012. The KDP spokesmi man said the post of the parliament speaker will also go to someone from PUK but it hasn’t suggested a candidate yet. On the possibility of inviting opposition parti ties to share the governmi ment after KDP takes its leadership, Ibrahim said this issue has not been discussed with the oppi position parties. In the former cabini net of the KRG, when KDP's Nechirvan Barzi zani was prime ministi ter, PUK compromised its right to take the premi miership after the first two years, so Barzani completed his full term of 4 years. PUK's compi promise came due to internal problems in the party because of splits and factions, mainly the separation of leaders who later founded Gorri ran Movement. KDP now insists on implementing the agreemi ment with PUK and aborting expectations of another compromise, alli lowing the KDP choice of prime minister to take the post. By Ako Muhammed KDP Vice President and incoming Prime Minister, Nechirvan Barzani PRESS PHOTO Negotiations on hold in Kurdistan Opposition insists on preconditions; region’s president asks public opinion Kurdish parties emphasize on maintaining unity as Iraq goes through a difficult political turmoil. But at home, the three opposition parties in Kurdistan Region are refusing to resume meetings with the two main governing parties unless the way is paved for such meetings. The three parties say that the presidential decrees have yet to be implementei ed completely as well as their reform project. Therefore, on December 31, they announced they would not return to the meetings; this came after a meeting of leaders of the three parties. Kurdistan Region Presidi dent Massoud Barzani asked people to comment on his personal Facebook page on the oppositions’ stance. Most comments praise the survey and hope for unity among Kurdish parties. But several commi ments also repeated the oppositions' demands. The opposition parties- -Gorran (Change) Movemi ment, Kurdistan Islamic Union and the Islamic Group in Kurdistan--want the government to fulfill a number of demands before The main opposition groups in Kurdistan have boycotted the so called 5-sided Meetings with the government parties. entering another round of talks. They mostly take a stance on one of the presidi dent's decrees, which asks that anyone suspected of violence that occurred during the spring antigovei ernment demonstrations be handed over to justice. On July 11, these three parties, which together hold 35 of Parliament's 111 seats, suspended meetings with governing Kurdistan Democratic Party and Pati triotic Union of Kurdistan. That time they raised four demands as preconditions. Submitting accused peopi ple of February 17 demoi onstration to court and reallowing an annual budget to the three parties were main demands. On August 27, President Barzani issi sued four decrees meeting the oppositions' demands as a step for reconciliation among the parties. Before suspending the meeting, both sides in several meetings were disci cussing a 22-item project presented by the oppositi tions for the purpose of conducting reforms in the region. Demonstrations in Suleimi maniya and in other towns continued for nearly two months starting on Febri ruary 17 last year. There were demands for reforms in what appeared to in acci cord with the Arab Spring. Ten people were killed and hundreds were wounded, mostly from the demonsi strators. A few days after the oppi position leaders' last decisi sion, the leader of Islamic Group, Ali Bapir, appeared again on his Facebook page with an article desi scribing the five-side meetings as "essential, effi fective and important." He urged the removal of obstacles preventing the meetings from resuming; thus, he called on governi ing parties and the governmi ment to quickly submit to justice those suspected of firing at demonstrators as a step toward resuming the meetings. "The Kurdish leaders can play their role only [if they] are united. Therefi fore, it is necessary to remi move the obstacles in the way of this unity," said Bapir, emphasizing the necessity of meetings beti tween opposition and govei erning parties. A politburo member from Bapir's party, Tofiq Kareem, admits that the oppositions' reform projei ect, also known as the oppi positions' six packages, require time to be implemi mented. "The oppositions wanted the negotiations to prodi duce practical results; for that we demanded a full stop to the unstable situai ation, which means the PRESS PHOTO end to chasing and arresti ing people and submitting shooters who fired at demoi onstrators, but no step for that has been taken," said Yusif Muhammad, a Gorri ran leader. "There are always grounds to hold meetings. When we meet we build grounds for working not only for the sake of further talks," said Arez Abdulla, a PUK leader, in reply to the oppositions' decisi sion. He urged both sides to meet and then discuss their conditions through projects they raise. Abdi dulla admits that some of the oppositions' demand and complaints are "vali id," but without meetings nothing will be achieved. "Now is not the right time to harm the Kurdish unity," said Firsat Sofi, a lecturer of politics who is close to the KDP. He named the current situati tion in Kurdistan and Iraq as "crucial and decisive". The KDP, in a New Year’s announcement, anni nounced that their efforts will continue in order to bring the Kurdish parties together, mainly with its strategic ally, PUK. Ako Muhammed Erbil ako.kurdishglobe @gmail.com
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KDP confirms government rotation - Kurdish Globe

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