Democratising Iraq (5): Talabani Rules Out Islamic Regime

The Kurdish Regional Government website reports that Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said in an interview published Monday by a Turkish newspaper that an Islamic regime will not be allowed in Iraq but the country's predominantly Muslim identity will be respected. "We the Kurds will never accept the establishment of an Islamic regime in Iraq," Talabani, a senior politician from Iraq's Kurdish minority, told the daily Sabah. Asked whether he would advocate secularism, Talabani said: "Yes, I will, but we do not use the term 'secularism'. What we say is: a democratic, federal, parliamentarian, united and independent Iraq, which respects the Islamic identity of the Iraqi people”. (AJ)