Reaction to appointment of new president
269 views · Published 9 October 2018 · 2:29 · Indexed 26 September 2026
Channel: AP Archive · 2018 · News & Politics
(4 Oct 2018) LEADIN: Iraqis from Baghdad to Kirkuk have been reacting to the appointment of newly elected president Barham Salih. STORYLINE: Barham Salih, a longtime Kurdish politician, assumed power as President of Iraq in a formal handover ceremony on Wednesday, a day after being elected and sworn in by parliament. Under an unofficial agreement dating back to the 2003 US-led invasion, Iraq's presidency - a largely ceremonial role - is held by a Kurd, while the prime minister is Shiite and the parliament speaker is Sunni. In Baghdad, political analyst Ziad al Earar sees lots of positives in the appointment - as well as the speed of the election and subsequent assignment of Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi to form a government: "In Iraq there is a liberal president, a prime minister from outside the parliamentary formation with multiple cultures, a civilian parliament speaker. This means that Iraq is heading in the right direction for the first time since 2003," he says. However in Kirkuk the response appears more cautious. Burhan Mezher, chairman of the Arab block in Kirkuk, says: "What is important to us as Iraqis is that whoever becomes president of the republic must be keen to unify Iraq, be part of the Iraqi political process and maintain stability, that's what matters to us." Ali al Mufti, spokesman for the Turkman party in Kirkuk, adds: "He must be a president of all of us, but as you know it is impossible to achieve this wish in a proper and transparent manner in Iraq." The ethnically-mixed oil rich city of Kirkuk, 180 miles (290 kilometres) north of Baghdad, is the country's largest contested city. It is claimed by Arabs, Turkmen and Kurds - a unique situation because of its ethnic diversity and the disagreements among them. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/4cf6a6bffdb128fc7bd44f32f91622d9
