Associated Press - 07/02/2005 - By Scheherezade Faramarzi
QALA CHWALAN, Iraq -- The Kurdish leader who hopes to become Iraq’s new president pledged to try to bring the country’s disaffected Sunni Arabs into the political process although many of them stayed away from the polls in landmark elections.
Jalal Talabani, a Sunni nominated last week by Kurdish leaders as their candidate for one of Iraq’s two top posts, said he would urge Sunni Arabs to participate in drafting a constitution -- one of the key tasks of the new government that will soon take office. As president, Talabani said he could play a mediating role between Sunni Arabs and Shi’ite Muslims, who apparently scored a landslide victory in the Jan. 30 national elections.
"I expect, when in Baghdad, I will play a role for reconciliation and will try to bring Sunni Arabs into the process of democracy," Talabani said in an interview Saturday night at his headquarters in Qala Chwalan near Sulaymaniyah.
"We will try to convince them to participate in the committee responsible for the drafting of the constitution."
Talabani, who leads the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, said he would put national priorities ahead of those of the northern autonomous region of Kurdistan if he was elected president, a largely ceremonial post.
In particular, he said, he would work to bring security to the country, eradicate the insurgency, and take steps toward a national reconciliation among Iraq’s ethnic and religious groups, whose ties have been strained in the violent aftermath of Saddam Hussein’s ouster.
The elections themselves have added to divisions.
Some Sunni political parties boycotted last week’s voting for a National Assembly because of objections to holding elections under the shadow of foreign occupation. Turnout was low in Sunni areas after insurgents threatened violence on election day, raising concerns that the lack of a strong Sunni voice in the new government could further alienate the group.
Sunni Arabs enjoyed exclusive power for nearly a century here, until the fall of Hussein. Since then, they have formed the core of the insurgency.
Their religious rivals, the Shi’ites, are on the verge of reversing nearly a century of oppression. Shi’ites turned out in huge numbers to vote and their leaders are expected to dominate the new government. Talabani said he was not worried about a Shi’ite group backed by clerics coming to power.
Talabani rejected concerns that putting a Kurd at the helm of Iraq’s presidency instead of a Sunni Arab would disrupt the delicate power balance between the country’s two dominant groups.
Kurds, who are also mostly Sunni Muslims, are one of the country’s main ethnic groups and deserve their share in any national government, Talabani said.
And if the Kurds get the presidency and the Shi’ites the premiership, a Sunni could be made speaker of Parliament, the third top job, he said.
Talabani said Sunnis made "a historic mistake by not fighting against terrorism and not ridding their areas of terrorist activity."
"This terrorist activity prevented them from using their right to vote," he said. "They made the area unsafe."
The president and two vice presidents will be chosen by the 275-seat National Assembly. The three-member presidential council then will choose a prime minister, who will have to be approved by the assembly.
The chamber and the new executive will serve 11 months, after which new elections are to be held for a full-term government.
