Jalal Talabani Will Not Give Up Presidency

Iraq's Vice-President Tareq al-Hashemi (L), Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki (2nd L) and Iraq's President Jalal Talabani (2nd R). Talabani is likely to become president again.------ Photo/Reuters.

ERBIL, Iraqi Kurdistan: Iraqi President, Jalal Talabani, will not and cannot give up the position of the presidency for a non-Kurdish candidate after he was nominated by the bloc of the Kurdish parties to take the largely ceremonial position in the next government, read a statement issued by Talabani’s office in Baghdad Thursday.

The statement rejected media reports that had said Talabani would give up his demand on presidency for the Sunni-backed Iraqiya Coalition, which has almost lost chances to take premiership after the caretaker prime minister was granted the support of an anti-American Shiite movement, the Sadrists.  

“His Excellency Talabani is not free to concede on the decisions made by the Kurdistani parties,” said the statement. “Agreed to [the demand of] Talabani include other coalitions such as the National Alliance as the greatest parliamentary bloc” 

However, the Kurds have pushed for an inclusive government in which the three major ethnic and sectarian groups, the Kurds, the Sunni Arabs and the Shiite Arabs are represented.

In an interview with Rudaw, Iraq’s Foreign Minister, Hoshyar Zebari, a Kurd, said that the inclusion of Iraqiya was a must to prevent the country from turning into havoc.

“To be honest, Iraqiya must be part [of the new government],” added Zebari. “If it were not, there would be problems. There would be more violence.”

He added that Kurds are a kingmaker now and can play an effective role that no any other party can form a new government. 

“Now, if we side with Maliki, we can form a government in two days’ time. Or if we side with Iraqiya, we will form a government tomorrow with the support of the [Islamic] Supreme Council.”