Kurds will not participate in govt. of marginalization – Barzani

ARBIL / IraqiNews.com: The President of North Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, Massoud Barzani, has said on Saturday that the Kurds won’t be part of a government that would marginalize the Shiites or Sunnis, and that should Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s Alliance not settle the current problems, his Kurdistan Leadership would “evaluate all probabilities in this respect,” according to an interview by Barzani with the BBC’s Farsi section. Answering a question about the Arbil Agreement he had initiated, which is supported by various Iraqi political alliances, Barzani said, “the agreement was based on the basis of partnership in the political process, but, unfortunately the process did not stand for long and the government and the state’s leading posts were not distributed in a just fashion”. “It is illogical for security positions to remain vacant one year later, while the Army is suffering from serious problems, and the system of the Army and the Security Bodies are standing against the law,” Barzani said. “We only have two means, either to settle the problems through dialogue and the agreement by all political parties or to carry out early elections,” he stressed. “The Kurdistan Parliament had committed us to remain within the limits of Iraq, if the Baghdad government commits itself to the Constitution, Federalism, democracy and the multiparty system,” Barzani said. “The Kurds will not participate in a government that would marginalize the Shiites or the Sunnis; but, if Maliki’s Alliance won’t settle the problems, then we shall evaluate all probabilities,” he highlighted. The President of Iraqi Kurdistan Region reiterated the legitimacy of the oil contracts his government had concluded with the Exon-Mobile Company, according to the agreement it had concluded with the Iraqi government and the law, describing the Baghdad central government’s position towards his government’s contracts as a “wrong”. “The central government’s position stands counter towards the interests of Kurdistan,” Barzani said, adding that “we won’t accept any position that presents obstacles to implementing the aforementioned contracts; we shall not stop our demands to implement Article 140 for the settlement of the Kirkuk issue”. “If such problems continue, we shall look to the Kurdistan Parliament and whatever the position of the people of Kurdistan may be, we shall implement that position,” Barzani warned. “If the position of Kurdistan people would even demand independence, then I shall not stand against that; I want the Kurdistan Region to develop, day after day, though what I actually hope is to see Kurdistan’s independent,” Barzani reiterated. Answering a question about the case against Iraq’s Vice-President, Tariq al-Hashimy, now in Kurdistan Region, following an arrest warrant against him by the Iraqi Interior Ministry, Barzani said, “this case can go two ways; the first is that the Judicial powers strive to settle the case, and the second is that the Iraqi political leaders would hold a National Conference, the dialogue of which would settle the case”.