.Draft constitution of Kurdish Iraq calls for inclusion of Kirkuk
Baghdad- The constitutional committee entrusted with formulating a constitution for the autonomous northern Kurdish region of Iraq announced Saturday that it completed the process of drafting the document, which specifies the city of Kirkuk as an integral part of the autonomous region. Awni al-Bazaz, member of the legal committee in the parliament of Kurdistan, described the draft constitution as being more detailed than the Iraqi national constitution.
According to Tareq Jambaz, a member of the Kurdish constitutional committee, the draft contains 158 articles, 15 more than the national constitution.
Al-Bazaz said the provision on the status of Kirkuk was based on and authorized by the Iraqi national constitution regarding the demarcation of the country's regional geographic and administrative borders.
Al-Bazaz also said the draft constitution would serve to extend the borders of Iraqi Kurdistan from the three governorates of Dahuk, Arbil, and Suleimaniya to include cities and towns in the Nineveh, Diyala, and Salahaddin governorates where Kurds are a majority of the population.
The parliament of Kurdistan aspires to have residents of the cities of Kirkuk, Khaniqeen, Sinjar, and Tooz Khormatu - which lie outside the autonomous Kurdish region yet have large Kurdish populations - to be allowed to vote on a regional constitutional referendum.
This proposal has proven controversial amongst Arabs and Turkomen in Kirkuk and elsewhere who argue that this represents an attempted Kurdish land-grab, while Kurds argue that the Saddam Hussein regime had "Arabized" a number of areas which were previously Kurdish.
Al-Bazaz also added that the Iraqi and Kurdish constitutions diverge on some provisions.
One of the points of difference is that the Kurdish draft stipulates a 25 per cent quota for the representation of women, not only in the parliament of Kurdistan but also in local councils.
Al-Bazaz said the draft constitution also asserts the Muslim identity of the majority of people in Kurdistan, stipulates that Islamic law is a primary source of the region's legislation, but also guarantees religious freedom for the region's other faiths, including Christianity and Yazdanism.
The constitutional committee is to submit the draft constitution to Kurdistan Parliamentary President Adnan Mohammad Rashad Mufti and Regional President Masoud Barzani for ratification before the submission of the draft law to a referendum in the upcoming months.
The draft constitution is to organize political, judicial, and legislative measures in the region, said Jambaz, adding that the regional constitution falls in line with the Iraqi national constitution which allows for the country's regions to formulate their own specific constitutions.
The Raw Story
I have to find a copy of the new Kurdish constitution.
What are the odds it's actually a liberal constitution like they promised, or did they play the same tricks of the Iraqi constitution?
According to Tareq Jambaz, a member of the Kurdish constitutional committee, the draft contains 158 articles, 15 more than the national constitution.
Al-Bazaz said the provision on the status of Kirkuk was based on and authorized by the Iraqi national constitution regarding the demarcation of the country's regional geographic and administrative borders.
Al-Bazaz also said the draft constitution would serve to extend the borders of Iraqi Kurdistan from the three governorates of Dahuk, Arbil, and Suleimaniya to include cities and towns in the Nineveh, Diyala, and Salahaddin governorates where Kurds are a majority of the population.
The parliament of Kurdistan aspires to have residents of the cities of Kirkuk, Khaniqeen, Sinjar, and Tooz Khormatu - which lie outside the autonomous Kurdish region yet have large Kurdish populations - to be allowed to vote on a regional constitutional referendum.
This proposal has proven controversial amongst Arabs and Turkomen in Kirkuk and elsewhere who argue that this represents an attempted Kurdish land-grab, while Kurds argue that the Saddam Hussein regime had "Arabized" a number of areas which were previously Kurdish.
Al-Bazaz also added that the Iraqi and Kurdish constitutions diverge on some provisions.
One of the points of difference is that the Kurdish draft stipulates a 25 per cent quota for the representation of women, not only in the parliament of Kurdistan but also in local councils.
Al-Bazaz said the draft constitution also asserts the Muslim identity of the majority of people in Kurdistan, stipulates that Islamic law is a primary source of the region's legislation, but also guarantees religious freedom for the region's other faiths, including Christianity and Yazdanism.
The constitutional committee is to submit the draft constitution to Kurdistan Parliamentary President Adnan Mohammad Rashad Mufti and Regional President Masoud Barzani for ratification before the submission of the draft law to a referendum in the upcoming months.
The draft constitution is to organize political, judicial, and legislative measures in the region, said Jambaz, adding that the regional constitution falls in line with the Iraqi national constitution which allows for the country's regions to formulate their own specific constitutions.
The Raw Story
I have to find a copy of the new Kurdish constitution.
What are the odds it's actually a liberal constitution like they promised, or did they play the same tricks of the Iraqi constitution?
posted by madtom at 8:13 PM
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