a twelve-point agreement whose purpose was to provide constitutional recognition to the Kurds and to recognize Kurdish as an official language of Iraq. The plan was to hold a parliamentary election within the period mandated in the provisional constitution of 1964. It provided for representation of the Kurds in all branches of the government. It gave the Kurds the right to organise their own political parties and publish their own newspapers. However, al-Bazzaz was forced to resign in August 1966 so the agreement was never signed. President Arif died suddenly in April 1966 in a plane crash, and al-Bazzaz became acting president for three days. A power struggle for the presidency occurred. In the first meeting of the Defence Council and Cabinet to elect a president, Al-Bazzaz needed a two-thirds majority to win the presidency. Al-Bazzaz was unsuccessful in achieving this goal and Abd al-Rahman Arif was elected as president. He asked al-Bazzaz to form a new cabinet in April 1966. However, al-Bazzaz was then pressured to resign by various political groups, including the Ba'athists. The leaders of these groups were military officers who were against al-Bazzaz's goal to reduce military salaries, privileges and power. The Ba'athists and Nasserists accused al-Bazzaz of being an adversary of Arab socialism and being against the proposed union of Egypt and Iraq. In January 1969, he was charged by the Ba'athist government with participation in activities against the government. He was tortured and imprisoned for fifteen months. In 1970, he was released from jail because he became ill and he went to London for treatment. He later died in Baghdad on 28 June 1973. Sources Historical Dictionary of Iraq by Edmund A. Ghareeb The Modern History of Iraq by Phebe Marr A History of Iraq 3rd edition by Charles Tripp On Arab Nationalism by Abd al-Rahman al-Bazzaz translated by Edward Atiyah Republican Iraq: A Study in Iraqi Politics since the Revolution of 1958 by Majid Khadduri Time (magazine) References 1913 births 1973 deaths 20th century in Iraq Alumni of King's College London Ambassadors of Iraq to the United Arab Republic Ambassadors of Iraq to the United Kingdom Arab Socialist Union (Iraq) politicians Iraqi Arab nationalists Iraqi socialists Iraqi Sunni Muslims Nasserists Presidents of Iraq Prime Ministers of Iraq Secretaries General of OPEC University of Baghdad alumni Writers from Baghdad Muslim socialists