IRAQI DEPUTY CEVAD TAKI AT ORSAM

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A meeting was held with Cevad Taki, deputy of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, and head of the Political Relationships Commission of the Assembly, on April 3, 2009 at ORSAM. He expressed his views about Turkey’s Iraq policy and Iraqis’ expectations of Turkey, and he also answered some questions. He said that they were very pleased with Turkey’s opening up to Arab countires, especially Iraq, and emphasised the importance of Ankara’s attitude towards Iraq’s unity and its relations with all its constituents. Taki indicated that a perception used to dominate Iraqi public opinion about Turkey’s attitude towards Iraq, seeing it as limited to Turkey’s PKK struggle and relations with only Sunnis, but this has changed totally and now includes all the groups in Iraq. In this sense, the visit of President Abdullah Gül to Iraq was very important, and showed that Turkey cared about Iraq.  

“Turkey Should Provide Stability”

Taki said that the Iraqi people, especially the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, want Turkey to play a more active role in Iraq and added, “We want Turkey to stabilise the situation, because other countries are more active than needed.” He stressed that the conflict between the US and Iran has expanded into Iraqi territory since the occupation, so all countries should take part in this process. He pointed out that Turkey was close to Iraq historically, and had influence on Turkmen, Sunnis and even Shiites. On the other hand, he said that Ankara’s support for Iraq in international organisations was important. Taki said that Turkey could help to configure Iraq’s security organisations in terms of staff training, equipment and technology transfer, because Ankara has great resources in this area. He said that they were glad about the increase in positive dialogue between Turkey and the regional government in the northern Iraq, and added that problems could be solved by this way.

“According to Us, Article 140 Is in Force”

During the questions, Taki shared his views about the situation in Kirkuk and said, “The situation in Kirkuk has changed. All the political powers helped the Turkmen to achieve stabilisation in Kirkuk. We want the UN to play a more active role concerning the Kirkuk issue. Of course, the issue will be tackled over time. There are different views concerning whether article 140 has been abolished or not. The federal court is trying to render a verdict on this. In my opinion, and According to the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, Article 140 is stil in force. But, we are not saying that it has to this way. The solution is the most important issue. For healthy operation of Normalisation-Census-Referendum, the UN should vigorously take part in the process.”                      

“Tal Afar Can Become a Province, Too”

Taki answered a question about the Turkmen and Talafar by saying, “We have always supported the Turkmen and will go on defend their rights. But, Iraq has urgent problems with its economy, security and reconstruction. The Talafar issue can be put on the agenda after solving these problems,” and added that they leaned towards Talafar becoming a province, within the framework of changing the borders of some other provinces and the transofrmation other counties into provinces.” Taki said that in the general elections there would be a strong alliance between the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the Dawa Party, the Sadr Group, the Virtue Party (Al-Fadhila Party), independents and liberal Shiites.