This blog post was published on November 18 2011. §
Iraq’s Federalism, upside down, north and west
Upside down
In 2005, nearly 12 million Iraqis residents of the southern provinces and northern Iraq demonstrated to say “Yes” to Iraq’s permanent constitution. The constitution is boycotted by the Sunni majority western provinces who opposed this referendum.
Time is changed and the equation is turned upside down, after more than six years the opponents of the constitution are using the “government constitution trick” [statistically 20%] to form of federal regions in their provinces.
In response to Parliament speaker Osama Al-Nujaifi call for the creation of Sunni region, Maliki toured some of the central and southern provinces, and met with Tribal leaders giving speeches attacking his adversaries, led by Nujaifi.
Nujaifi responded with holding another conference of all provincial councils in the parliament’s hall in the Green Zone attended by representatives of five provinces and half board Baghdad [Sunnis only], with ten provinces boycotted the meeting because of the pressure from the Shiite “National Alliance”.
North
Exactly a year ago, we reported that the Iraqi parliament speaker Osama Nujaifi is Turkey’s man in Iraq. We said at that time:
Imposed on the Kurds, and will represents Turkey’s interests in Iraq
Playing both cards Kurds and Arabs in Mosul, MiddleEast Online wrote the following last week:
Ankara prepared its plan very early, when it intervened as a strong player engineering the so-called “Erbil Agreement”, in the formation of the current Iraqi government led by Maliki,” and then it was agreed that Osama Nujaifi to head of the Iraqi parliament because Al-Nujaifi family historically and culturally is close to Turkey, and Tariq Al-Hashimi remains the Vice President Talabani, because Hashimi, because of his connection with the Muslim Brotherhood. In this Turkey enforced itself as a main player for future agenda in Iraq.
West
Rushing to stop Turkey incursion in Iraq, and to restore Britain’s momentum in Iraq after the withdrawal of the US. David Cameron started to listen to the former British Prime Minister John Major (1990–1997) in his advise about the future British policy:
Instead of “marching in lock-step” with America, Britain should be willing to adopt foreign policies at odds with the American approach, especially in the Middle East.
Britain called the Jordanian King Abdullah II to consult him about the opportunity to form an alliance or administrative, economic and logistical federalism with Western Iraqi provinces (Anbar). King Abdullah II of Jordan saw this project as an opportunity to settle the Palestinians in Western Iraqi provinces.
Maliki in his meeting with tribal representatives from Salah Al-Din Provinces gave few hints on Jordan-Britain involvement:
To divide Iraq is not new project, a scheme similar to the “Balfour Declaration”. The enemies are benefiting from the difference and sectarian strife in Iraq …. There are many countries in the region for an urgent need to divide Iraq, first, to settle the Palestinian right of return by making Iraq an alternative home for them.