Middle East News
Kurdish Iraqi president under fire from Sunnis
Jan 22, 2007, 18:30 GMT
Baghdad - Sunni MPs, members of the Iraqi Accord Front which has 44 seats in the Iraqi parliament, have vehemently criticized Kurdish President of Iraq Jalal Talabani for allegedly 'inciting sectarian violence,' pan-Arab channels reported Monday.
Talabani has come under fire for allegedly highlighting the death toll of Shiite Muslim civilians in the violence plaguing the country since the 2003 ouster of Saddam Hussein.
Sunni leaders allege that the president, in remarks to the press, has habitually drawn attention to the high numbers of Shiites killed.
In a country riven by sectarian divisions, Sunni MPs have interpreted his alleged remarks as a sign of 'bias' towards the Shiites, news reports said.
Cabinet spokesman Ali el-Dabagh immediately responded to the allegations, telling parliament that the president based his remarks on 'evidence of daily happenings.'
He added that Iraqi authorities record day-to-day losses and death tolls.
The Iraqi cabinet is led by Shiite Premier Nuri al-Maliki and dominated by the United Iraqi Alliance, the Shiite-led political bloc. Sunnis and Kurds are however also represented in the house.
Iraq's majority Shiites and minority Sunni Arabs have been engaged in an often bloody power struggle since the toppling of Saddam Sectarian tensions and attacks between the two communities, including suicide bombings, claim the lives of dozens of civilians on an almost daily basis.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-AgenturCOMMENT
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Older Talkback
page: 1
It's a pity that the Iraqies are killing one another, whilst this is going on their real enemies the socalled coalition are dividing the country up between themselves, if they carry on this sectarianism they will finnish up with nothing. Both sides are doing just what the coalition want, while they plunder Iraqs wealth. The Iraqies should get their act together for the countries sake.
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born_and_fed_in_baghdadJan 22nd, 2007 - 19:33:54
It is as if I grew up in Mars not in the dusty streets of Baghdad. Not until very late in my life did I realize that my Arab family affiliated to Shiite Islam, a fact which nevertheless did not preclude many inter-sect and inter-ethnic marriages. At least two of my sisters were married to Sunnis and I am married to a Sunni Turkmen. Indeed, we were told it was shameful to point to sectarian differences and in the eyes of the learned there were none. As a good friend lamented recently, perhaps these were middle class convictions of the educated and the refined elite. Iraq’s middle class has been obliterated for good and hence today’s vulgar politics.
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