Pan-Arab paper on interview with Iraqi FM, Iraq's future, Kurdish role.

Text of report by Saudi-owned leading pan-Arab daily Al-Sharq al-Awsat website on 22 September

[Article by Ma'mun al-Findi: "Hoshyar"]

The 2009 elections will decide the future of Iraq with its cultural options and political system. Despite the importance of the past elections, it is the upcoming ones that will determine the road to the future as they change alliances and result in new courses for the people and government of Iraq. The future of Iraq depends on one single question: Is Iraq a secular civilian state or is it a potential sectarian Islamic state? The answer to this question by all the sects of Iraq will decide the future of this big and important country in the Middle East region. The above are the words with which Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari started his interview with me as we spoke for one than one hour on the sidelines of the annual conference of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in Geneva that is known as "an annual review of world policies" and that coincided with 50th anniversary of its establishment.

Zebari was the keynote speaker at this …