Source: AFP
Author: Abdel Hamid Zebari

ARBIL, Iraq — Top Iraqi politicians, many of whom feel marginalised by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s style of governing, called on Saturday in Arbil for greater democracy in running the country.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, powerful Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, Massud Barzani, the president of the autonomous Kurdistan region, Iyad Allawi, the head of the Sunni-backed Iraqiya bloc, and Sunni parliament speaker Osama al-Nujaifi, held a meeting in Arbil, the capital of Kurdistan in northern Iraq.

Maliki has been accused by various sides, including Barzani, Iraqiya and Sadr, of consolidating power and moving towards dictatorship in Iraq.

The Iraqi leaders called “to put in place mechanisms that can solve the instability, and for ways to enhance the democratic process and activate the democratic mechanisms in managing the country’s affairs and preventing dangers that are targeting” democracy, a statement on the meeting said.

The leaders also discussed “the necessity of looking into solutions to end the (political) crisis, the continuation of which has become a danger to the higher national interests,” said the statement which was read by Fuad Hussein, head of the office of the presidency in Kurdistan.

Solutions should be “in accordance with the Arbil agreement, what Moqtada al-Sadr said in his statement, and the constitutional bases that define decision-making and policies,” it said, referring to a power-sharing deal on the formation of the current government, and points made by Sadr on Thursday.

On Thursday, Sadr pointed out “minorities are an important part of Iraq, and we have to bring them to participate in building Iraq, politically, economically and in security.”

He called for “cancelling the policy of neglect and marginalisation”, adding that priority must be given to “Iraqi interests over sectarian and ethnic and party interests.”

Read More