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Iraqi President urges Iraq neighbors not
to intervene in Iraq's internal affairs
9.1.2007
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ANKARA, January
8, -- Iraqi President Jalal Talabani Monday urged
neighboring countries not to intervene in Iraqi
internal affairs.
In a statement to Turkish Ceyhan News Agency after a
meeting in Sulaimaniyah, Kurdistan region (Iraq),
Talabani said relationships between Iraq and Turkey
should be based upon mutual respect, non
intervention in others' affairs, and understanding
that Kirkuk has a special status among Iraqi cities.
He called on all Iraqi factions to cooperate with
the coalition forces in Iraq in combating terrorism,
asserting the importance of forming a committee to
combat corruption in the Kurdistan National Union
party.
President of the Kurdistan Region Massoud Barzani
indirectly criticized Turkey for allowing a meeting
for Iraqi Sunnis to take place in Istanbul last
month. |
Iraqi
President : Jalal Talabani, a Kurd |
Barzani said some regional countries hosted a
meeting for individuals and groups executing violent
acts in Iraq and spreading new thoughts about Kirkuk,
which only contributes to escalating the war in
Iraq.
Meanwhile, Turkey's Special Representative in
Baghdad Oguz Celikkol said the Kurdistan Workers
Party's (PKK) issue negatively impacted
relationships between Iraq and Turkey and the
Kurdish groups in northern Iraq.
Celikkol said a number of procedures by the Iraqi
government and the Kurdish authorities in Kurdistan
(northern Iraq) against the separatist party would
reinforce bilateral relationships.
He added that Turkey aims at guaranteeing security
and stability in Iraq, expressing hope that 2007
would bring an end to sectarian violence there.
He also said Turkey does not desire discussing
non-guaranteed scenarios like dividing Iraq, noting
that Iraqi interior minister will visit Turkey this
year to discuss issues of common concern.
On Kirkuk, Celikkol said the conditions to hold a
referendum are not available yet, stressing the
importance of resolving the issue through
negotiations and understanding between the concerned
sides.
kuna net.kw
The former Iraqi president forced about 250,000
Kurdish residents to give up their homes to Arabs in
the 1970s, to "Arabize" the city and the region's
oil industry.
Kirkuk city lies just south border of the Kurdistan
autonomous region and it is not under the full
control of Kurdistan Regional Government
administration.
A referendum is to be held in late 2007 to decide
whether the oil-rich Kurdish province should be
annexed to the safe semiautonomous Kurdistan region
in Iraq's north.
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