Continued Kurdish- Shiite consultations to form the Iraqi government
Iraq, Politics, 3/16/2005

Amid atmospheres of caution and prediction over what the Iraqi parliament session will come up with, consultations on forming the Iraqi government are underway between the Shiite and Kurdish groups.

Officials representing the two sides said the two sides are approaching the finalizing of a new Iraqi government after the approval of the Kurds to settle the issue of Karkouk, according to the state running law for the interim phase.

The law states to postpone settling the issue of Karkouk status until a census is made and approving the permanent constitution for the country. Member of the Shiite coalition Muhammad Baher al-Oloum said that it is expected within the few coming days to declare the general principles including dealing with the status of Karkouk.

Worthy mentioning that after winning the list of the united coalition and the Kurdish list of two thirds of the Parliament's seats in the Iraqi elections by the end of January, the talks dedicated to the formation of the Iraqi government collapsed for several times. The main reason to these collapses was the Kurdish desire to maintain control on the oil- rich Karkouk which is inhabited by the Arabs, the Kurds and the Turkmans, in addition to differences over the partition of the authority.

Previous Stories:
  Najaf governorates demand Iraqi parliament to offer Iraqi nationality to al-Seistani   (3/15/2005)
  Talibani: differences with the Shiite over Karkouk, Bashmargha   (3/15/2005)
  Kurdish - Shiite agreement fails   (3/14/2005)

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