The spokesman for the Kurdish Blocs Coalition (KBC) in the Iraqi parliament today called for Iraq's internal political crisis to be discussed at Thursday's Arab summit in Baghdad, along with the issue of the Iranian and Turkish attacks on the borders of the Kurdistan Region.
Coalition spokesman Muayyid Tayyeb said: "The Iraqis must have united views and their opinion must not represent a certain bloc or party but should be on behalf of Iraq as a whole."

About the intention of the Kurds to discuss the issue of Iranian and Turkish shelling of the Kurdistan Region's borders, Tayyeb said: "The issue of Iraq's borders, including the region's border, is not our responsibility alone but the responsibility of the Iraqi state in general.

"All the participating states in the summit will present their problems including the security issues, counter terrorism, the Arab spring and the relations between the Arab countries, but I have no information about presenting the issue of the Iranian and Turkish attacks on the borders of the Kurdistan Region."

Tayyeb called for an end to the "tense" speeches from MPs, in a bid to reduce and resolve the political disputes.

Holding the summit, which is considered the most prominent political event in Iraq since the fall of the former regime in 2003, comes amid a political crisis, which began after the issuance of an arrest warrant against the Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi on charges of supporting assassination groups and the demand of the Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to dismiss his deputy, Saleh al-Mutlaq. The differences between the various political blocs have increased ever since.

Iraqiya List and the Kurdish Blocs Coalition accuse the State of Law Coalition (SLC) of not taking seriously the implementation of the Erbil agreement.

The agreement proposed by Kurdistan Regional President Massoud Barzani ended a nine-month dispute over who should run the government following March 2010's elections. The deal, which was signed by all the major political party leaders in Erbil, reinstated Maliki for the second successive term.

Maliki's elections rival, Allawi, whose Iraqiya List won the elections, was promised a National Council for Strategic Policies in return for his concession over the PM post. The council was not formed and the PM's SLC and Iraqiya began incriminating and accusing each other of violating the Erbil pact.

The Arab summit will be preceded by the meeting of Arab economy ministers over two days and one day by the meeting of Arab foreign ministers.

AKnews reported today that Iraq's President Jalal Talabani identified April 5 as the date for holding the long-heralded national conference to reconcile the political blocs and put an end to the current crisis. The date was identified after consultations between Maliki, parliament speaker Osama al-Nujaifi and leaders of political blocs.









AKnews