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Five facts about Iraqi President Jalal
Talabani
15.3.2010 |
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March
15, 2010
SULAIMANIYAH,
Kurdistan region 'Iraq', — Iraqi President
Jalal Talabani is seeking another term after
parliamentary elections that are pivotal for Iraq as
it emerges from sectarian warfare and U.S. troops
prepare to withdraw by 2012.
Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK),
allied with another powerful Kurdish party, has a
strong lead over a reform-minded challenger in two
Kurdish provinces according to early results
released by Iraq's electoral commission.
If returned to the presidency, Talabani, the first
non-Arab president of Iraq, would ask the prime
minister nominee from the largest bloc in parliament
to form a government.
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Jalal Talabani,
President of Iraq |
Here are five facts
about Talabani:
* Talabani was born near Arbil in northern Iraq in
1933 and became a lieutenant to Mullah Mustafa
Barzani, patriarch of Iraqi Kurdish nationalism and
founder of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP),
which is now led by Barzani's son Massoud. Talabani
joined the KDP at the age of 13 and by 1958 was a
lawyer and an inner member of the party.
* Talabani split from the KDP in 1974 and formed the
PUK in Damascus the following year. A bitter rivalry
with the Barzanis followed and led to alliances with
neighbouring Iran, Turkey and even Saddam Hussein.
With Saddam weakened after the 1991 Gulf War,www.ekurd.netthe
Kurds carved out an autonomous zone in northeastern
Iraq but Talabani and Barzani disputed control of a
Kurdish regional government and fought a bitter
civil war.
* Talabani became a key player in post-war Iraqi
politics after the Kurds, who had managed to make
peace, formed a powerful voting bloc in the Iraqi
legislature. Talabani became Iraq's first elected
president in more than 50 years in April 2005 and
was selected for a second term by parliament in
April 2006 as a national unity government was put
together.
* Talabani's power base has been threatened by the
desertion of a former lieutenant, Nawshirwan
Mustafa, who established the Change List, or "Gorran",
which made a strong showing in Kurdish elections in
2009. The top complaint of many Kurds is corruption.
* A bon vivant who has become considerably
overweight in recent years, Talabani had previously
indicated he did not expect to seek a new term as
Iraqi president.
Copyright, respective author or news agency,
Reuters
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