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Jalal Talabani in Erbil on Kirkuk talks
30.12.2008
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December
30, 2008
Erbil-Hewler, Kurdistan region 'Iraq', —
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani met officials with
the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to discuss
the status of the disputed Iraqi Kurdish city of
Kirkuk, officials said.
Talabani, a Kurd, visited with his Kurdish
counterpart,www.ekurd.net
Massoud Barzani,
president of Kurdistan region during the weekend in
the Kurdish resort town of Salahaddin near the
regional capital of Erbil, Turkey's Today's Zaman
reported Monday.
The leaders discussed outstanding issues over the
status of the oil-rich Kirkuk. Kurdish officials
advocate annexing Kirkuk into Iraqi Kurdistan as a
reversal of an "Arabization" campaign led by
dictator Saddam Hussein. Sunni Arabs and Turkomen
oppose the measure. |
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani (R) with Kurdistan
president Massoud Barzani, Dukan, Sulaimaniyah, Dec
10, 2008 |
Talabani had a prior
visit to the region where he pursued a resolution to
the issue stemming from militant activity in the
region linked to the Turkeys' outlawed Kurdistan
Workers' Party, or PKK.
The Turkish military conducts frequent raids into
Iraq in pursuit of PKK rebels. American forces have
shared intelligence with Ankara regarding PKK
activity in Iraq.
Iraqi Kurds have been at odds with Turkey over the
PKK issue, though relations have warmed recently.
Safeen Dizayee with Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic
Party (KDP) said he would welcome a visit to the
region by Turkish President Abdullah Gul,www.ekurd.net
who had postponed a Dec.
20 trip because of medical treatments.
Kirkuk city is historically a Kurdish city and it
lies just south border of the Kurdistan autonomous
region, the population is a mix of majority Kurds
and minority of Arabs, Christians and
Turkmen. lies 250 km northeast of Baghdad. Kurds
have a strong cultural and emotional attachment to Kirkuk,
which they call "the Kurdish Jerusalem."
Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution is related to
the normalization of the situation in Kirkuk city
and other disputed areas.
The article also calls for conducting a census to be
followed by a referendum to let the inhabitants
decide whether they would like Kirkuk to be annexed
to the autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan region or having
it as an independent province.
The former regime of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein
had forced over 250,000 Kurdish residents to give up
their homes to Arabs in the 1970s, to "Arabize"
the city and the region's oil industry.
Copyright, respective author or news agency, UPI |
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