Controversy over Iraq’s new interim constitution continued Monday even after the 25 members of the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council signed the U.S.-approved constitution. Iraq’s leading Shiite Cleric, Ayatollah Sistani said the interim document hinders democracy and gives the Kurds enough power to thwart passage of a permanent constitution. Meanwhile 12 of the 13 Shiites on the Governing Council, including Ahmed Chalabi, signed a statement saying they intended to amend key portions of the document that they considered to be undemocratic. The Los Angeles Times reports that five Shiite leaders refused to attend the signing ceremony in protest. In Kirkuk, tens of thousands of Kurds took to the streets to celebrate the signing of the new interim constitution claiming that in effect it returned Kirkuk to Kurdistan. But according to the Guardian of London, the huge outpouring of Kurdish emotion disregarded the fact that the constitution does not rule definitively on the future of the contested city, the surrounding areas, and its vast oil wealth. One western official said: “They are going have a nasty hangover when they wake up in the morning. They clearly have not read the new law carefully enough.” Meanwhile Turkish officials have protested the new constitution for giving too much autonomy to the Kurds. Turkey’s Justice Minister Cemil Cicek said “The interim law does not satisfy us, it increases our concerns. We see it as an arrangement that will not help the establishment of permanent peace in Iraq.”