ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iraqi President Barham Salih landed in Erbil on Tuesday, to meet the President of the Kurdistan Region and Kurdish party leaders and discuss prospective amendments to Iraq’s constitution amid ongoing demonstrations across many of the country’s central and southern cities.
"We will discuss efforts aimed at the amendment of the Iraqi constitution so we can have a unanimous voice as the Kurdistan Region," Mustafa Saed Qadir, vice president of the Kurdistan Region, told Rudaw English on Monday. "Unanimity at this stage among Kurdistani political parties is important."
"Whenever a new development emerges, Kurdistani parties have in the past met. It is a normal thing to do now, to study the possibilities Iraq now faces,” Qadir added. “What matters is that the Kurdish parties will have to have a common stance."
President Salih, a Kurd, will take part in the meeting, senior media officer of the president Hana Qasim confirmed to Rudaw.
A wave of unrest broke over southern Iraq at the start of October as Iraqis took to the streets to demand government reforms tackling high unemployment, poor provision of services, and rampant corruption.
Under mounting pressure, Iraqi parliament took drastic steps on October 28 to try to abate anti-government protests, voting to dissolve provincial and local councils, cut privileges of top government officials, and form a committee tasked with amending the constitution within four months.
Viyan Sabri, a Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) member of the Iraqi Parliament told Rudaw that the constitution amendment committee will convene later this week, but it remains unclear what articles will be put forth in the meeting for amendment.
"There are a lot of talks of changing the system from parliamentary to presidential, or the reduction of the number of MPs by increasing the number of voters they represent from 100,000 to 250,000 voters," she added.
Kurdistan Region president Nechirvan Barzani commented on the amendment of the Iraqi constitution while attending the sixth congress of the Kurdistan Bar Association on October 31.
"The [2005] constitution designed for the new Iraq has been branded as advanced compared to the constitution of the majority of the countries in the region. However, not implementing its articles has created an atmosphere that means they are now talking about amending it. The main problem is not the constitution, but... that this constitution has been ignored."
"It must be clear to all that any amendments being made must reflect the reality of the differences and the uniqueness of the country's components and that the rights of all sides must be stipulated in it," Barzani went on to say.
"We will not impede any amendment aimed at improving the life and management of Iraq, but any amendment which will create inequality or harm democracy and federalism [will be impeded]," he warned.
Parliament’s move to open up the constitution to amendments has worried Kurdish parties.
"There are threats on Kirkuk and Kurdistan and the main threat will be the denial of Kurdistani identity of disputed areas," Najmalid Karim, former Kirkuk governor said.
Musana Amin, another Kurdish MP in Baghdad, believes Kurds must do their best to "oppose the amendments" as opening up this subject will "contribute to growing instability and further complicate existing issues that cannot easily be tackled."
"The rights of Kurds and the Kurdistan Region – guaranteed and specified in the constitution – are all under threat, as per these people's desire,” Hoshyar Zebari, a politburo member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) told Rudaw’s Hiwa Jamal last week.
Kurds were influential in writing Iraq’s post-Saddam Hussein constitution and secured significant rights in that document.
Therefore "the constitution cannot be amended without the consent of Kurds, and the Iraqi parties very well understand that," Shakhawan Abdulla, a former Kurdish MP in the Iraqi Parliament said.
"Our only guarantee in the democratic, federal Iraq is this constitution. If we open this we will harm ourselves,” said Hoshyar Zebari, a member of the KDP leadership and Iraq's former foreign and finance minister.
Writing by Zryan Haji
Translation by Zhelwan Z. Wali
