Iraq: Talabani Says 'Kurds Will Remain In Strong Alliance With Shi'ites'

Iraq: Talabani Says 'Kurds Will Remain In Strong Alliance With Shi'ites'

Prague, 5 October 2005 (RFERL) -- Iraqi President Jalal Talabani is on his first state visit to Europe since taking office in April. His first stop was the Czech Republic, where he arrived on 3 October to meet with officials and discuss economic and military cooperation. Today, President Talabani also visited RFE/RL's headquarters in Prague to give exclusive interviews to some of our correspondents. RFE/RL regional analyst Kathleen Ridolfo and correspondent Charles Recknagel asked Talabani about a range of issues: from preparations for Iraq's 15 October referendum to the situation of minorities in the country.

RFE/RL: The National Assembly recently passed measures that would make it harder for those voting against Iraq's draft constitution in the upcoming 15 October referendum. Specifically, the assembly ruled that a rejection of the draft constitution would require that two-thirds of all registered voters, not just two-thirds of actual voters, oppose the draft constitution in at least three governorates. This interpretation of the voting procedures, which are set by the Transitional Administrative Law, or TAL [Iraq's temporary constitution], has been criticized by the UN, U.S., and Iraqi election officials. What is your reaction?

President Talabani: That is decided in the TAL. Because when we adopted this article (of the TAL), we said that two-thirds of the population must refuse, reject the constitution. Not two-thirds of those who are voting.

RFE/RL: Mr. President, you and other Kurdish leaders have criticized Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Ja'fari's government for not abiding by the terms of the alliance set between the Kurds and Shi'a following the election in January. Can you tell us whether the Kurds will remain aligned with the Shi'a following the next election?

Talabani: Surely the Kurds will remain aligned in a strong alliance with the Shi'ites. We had historical friendship and cooperation against the dictatorship [of Saddam Hussein]. Such differences that have appeared among the cabinet [members] will not affect the strategic alliance between the Kurds and Shi'ites.

RFE/RL: As a lawyer, do you believe that Saddam will get a fair trial in Iraq?

Talabani: Saddam will have a very just and fair trial in Iraq. Now he is enjoying all kinds of freedom for a prison -- he has television, radio with him, books, he can write, he can read, he can contact everyone. But Saddam Hussein is a war criminal. He committed crimes against the Iraqi people, against our neighbors, against Iranians, against Kuwaitis. For that I think he will deserve to be presented to the court as a war criminal and when this is sentenced the sentence must be respected.

RFE/RL: Some Turkmen groups in northern Iraq say that they face pressure from Kurdish authorities. For example, they say Kurdish authorities are encouraging Kurds to resettle Kirkuk to change the ethnic balance in the city. Are ethnic tensions mounting in Iraq?

Talabani: This is a false accusation. This is not true at all. What is going on is that those deportees are going back home, and it is according to the decisions of Iraqi opposition conferences [prior to the fall of Hussein's regime], according to Article 58, that deportees from Kirkuk, Kurds and Turkomans, must go back and those who were brought [to Kirkuk] according to the ethnic-cleansing policy of Saddam Hussein must go back home.

What is going on is that such extremist Turkomans were exaggerating their numbers. They said that we are 3-4 million, while they are less than 1 million. And the election proved that they are not [numerous]. They could not get more than 90,000 votes from what they claimed is 4 million Turkomans. Now when they saw that the [vast] majority of the Kirkuk area is voting for the Kurdistan list, they must go and make some kind of accusations. They must go and find some kind of pretext in their hands to tell their masters why Kirkuk is not with us because Kurds are sending people.

RFE/RL: As our final question, we want to ask you about the psychological impact of Ba'athist rule on Iraq. Do you think the government is doing enough to address this issue. For example, if the government had enacted some kind of Truth and Reconciliation Commission as South Africa did, do you think that the insurgency would be as far along as it is now?

Talabani: I think the government is not doing very well. Second, the terrorist activities are not only [by] Iraqis. The [vast] majority of them are coming from outside -- Al-Qaeda, Ansar al-Islam, al-Zarqawi's group, they came from outside the country. They came to invade Iraq. For that, those people who are extremists, who declared the war of annihilation against Shi'ites and Kurds in Iraq will continue their terrorist activities. But I think that the Iraqi terrorists who are now engaging in the war gradually will come back to the political process in Iraq. Of course, the government must help them to come back to the democratic process.

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Iraq: Talabani Says 'Kurds Will Remain In Strong Alliance With Shi'ites'