Talabani’s Kirkuk statements “serious” – MP

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: A lawmaker from al-Iraqiya bloc termed as “serious” on Wednesday Iraqi President Jalal Talabani’s statements on Kirkuk, adding the remarks might possibly be an attempt to cool down the masses’ anger in the Iraqi Kurdistan region. “The oil-rich province of Kirkuk is the Kurds’ promised land and old dream. Perhaps President Talabani’s statements were an attempt to ease the anger of the people in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, which has been witnessing mass demonstrations,” Wihda al-Djemeili told IraqiNews.com news agency. Talabani, speaking in Sulaimaniya on Monday on the occasion marking the 10th  anniversary of the 1991 uprising against the former regime of Saddam Hussein, termed Kirkuk as “Kurdistan’s Jerusalem,” calling on the Kurds in the province to form a “strategic Kurdish-Turkmen alliance to liberate it from terrorists and neo-occupiers.” Djemeili noted that Talabani does not represent a certain group or party but he is the president of the republic of Iraq. “The Kurds’ inclination to get Kirkuk and annex it to the Iraqi Kurdistan Region is immense. They can do that because they have a strategic vision,” she said. She pointed out that the Turkmen powers “would not be able to face up to the Kurds on the grounds that the Turkmen do not have the funds, security forces or human resources owned by the Kurds.” Kirkuk, a city of mixed Kurdish, Turkmen and Arab population, lies 250 km north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad. AmR (TS) 1653