|
Iraqi president Jalal Talabani invites
Turkish investigators to Kirkuk
30.3.2007
|
|
|
|
March
30, 2007
Riyadh, -- Turkish Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan and Iraqi President Jalal Talabani
discussed the controversial subject of Kirkuk during
a meeting at the Arab League Summit in Riyadh, with
Erdogan seeming keen to accept Talabani's invitation
to send a delegation to the oil-rich Kurdish
northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk.
When Erdogan explained to Talabani the discomfort
that Turkey felt over events in Kirkuk, Talabani
replied: "Is there a mistake that the Iraqis have
made with regards to Kirkuk? Send a delegation, let
them carry out investigations in Kirkuk. Let them
look into whether the records of deeds have been
erased. Let them carry out demographic studies. The
base for these deeds is in Baghdad. Let Turkey's
consulate in Mosul look into this."
Erdogan greeted Talabani's suggestion that a
delegation be sent with pleasure, and has confirmed
that Ankara will be "analyzing this and making a
decision very soon." |
Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan (L) met Iraqi
President Talabani, a Kurd (R), during Arab League
summit in Riyadh |
|
During the Erdogan-Talabani meeting, the Iraqi
foreign minister and head of the Foreign Affairs
Commission were also present. Erdogan, who confirmed
that his meeting with Talabani had gone well, had
this to say: "Talabani told me 'We need Turkey. We
cannot deny everything you have done for us. We have
made some mistakes, but then, so have you.' They are
particularly uncomfortable with the polemic that
appears in the media. I reminded him that I had
called him, as the prime minister of Turkey, while
he was in the hospital."
Erdogan also touched on Talabani's words regarding
the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) rebels presence
in Kurdistan region (northern Iraq), noting that
Talabani had said, "We are against anyone who is
against Turkey." Erdogan also underlined that
Talabani had said he was pleased with Turkey's new
petroleum laws.
todayszaman com
**
The former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein 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 is a Kurdistani city and it lies just
south border of the Kurdistan autonomous region and
it is not under the full control of Kurdistan
Regional Government administration, its population
is a mix of majority Kurds and minority of Arabs,
Turkmen.
Based on Iraq's Constitution 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.
Top |
Kurd Net
does not take credit for and is not responsible for the content of news
information on this page
|
® 