Kurdistan presidency says to reply to Maliki’s accusations soon

ARBIL / IraqiNews.com: The Iraqi Kurdistan region’s presidency said on Friday that it would soon reply to the “constitution violating” accusations by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. “The region’s presidency is studying Maliki’s statements in which he accused the Kurdistan region of violating the Iraqi constitution and will soon reply to them,” Fouad Hussein, the head of the region’s presidential cabinet, told IraqiNews.com. “Maliki, with his statements, is casting doubts over the credibility of a number of Iraqi constitutional organizations,” he said. The Iraqi premier had dealt strong-worded attack on Kurdish leaders he did not name, accusing them of violating the country’s constitution. Speaking at a press conference he had held in Baghdad, Maliki criticized the Presidential Council’s “silence over constitutional excesses by opening special headquarters for diplomatic mission, moving forces to confront the central government troops in the areas under its (the government’s) control and backing tribal councils for the good of their own parties while objecting the formation of sahwa (awakening) councils”. Maliki also criticized the contracts signed by the Iraqi Kurdistan region with foreign corporations, terming them as “unconstitutional”. A war of words escalated recently between the Kurdish leaders and the Iraqi premier over sahwa councils he called for setting up in the province of Kirkuk. The Kurds rejected the calls on the grounds that the step would do away with their demands to annex the oil-rich province to the autonomous region. AmR (S) 1