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Massoud Barzani meet with Gen. Joseph
Ralston
30.1.2007
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Massoud Barzani, General
Joseph Ralston discuss issues of Kirkuk, Turkish
Kurds
January 30, 2007
Erbil, Kurdistan region (Iraq), January 30, –
Iraqi Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barzani met
in Erbil city, the capital of Kurdistan region
(northern Iraq) with General Joseph Ralston, U.S.
President George W. Bush's special envoy, to discuss
the issues of Kirkuk and Turkish Kurds, said the
head of Iraqi Kurdistan presidency's office on
Tuesday.
"Ralston's visit tackled the file of the Kurdistan
Workers Party (PKK) in Turkey and the issue of
Kirkuk," Dr. Fouad Hussein said
"The two sides discussed during the meeting held in
the resort of Salah al-Din on Monday the PKK scene
in Turkey," Hussein said, adding "they both stressed
the importance of a peaceful solution to this
issue." |
Massoud Barzani, President of Kurdistan Region
(Iraq) (L),
U.S Retired Gen. Joseph Ralston (R) |
On the issue of Kirkuk, Hussein noted, Ralston has
expressed the official opinion of the U.S.
administration and State Department, which held that
the Kirkuk file is an internal affair that has to do
only with the Iraqi people.
The Iraqi constitution contains a mechanism to reach
a solution for the Kirkuk affair, Hussein quoted
Ralston as saying.
"Ralston has also visited the Kurdish refugee camps
in Makhmour and last week's statistics were of
valuable outcome now that the Turkish mass media
said the camp was used for military purposes," added
Hussein.
Abdul-Rahman Barazanji, the Mayor of Makhmour, had
said on Monday that Ralston, the U.S. government's
coordinator for PKK affairs, paid a visit to the
Makhmour-based camp of Kurdish refugees displaced
from Turkey.
Ralston's visit came after the camp was inspected by
Iraqi forces and refugees there counted by the UN to
make sure it was empty of weapons.
Barazanji said the U.S. official also visited a
number of families at their homes and discussed with
them their demands and problems and promised to work
out a solution with the U.S. and Turkish governments
to guarantee their democratic rights inside Turkey.
Scores of Kurdish families displaced from Turkey
live in refugee camps in Makhmour in poor
humanitarian conditions. Hopes are pinned on
humanitarian organizations and U.N. agencies to help
them.
The U.S. government had a few months ago appointed a
coordinator for the PKK affairs to meet Turkish
demands for U.S. intervention to end PKK presence
inside Iraqi Kurdistan Region.
VOI
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