Kurdistan president: Iraq needs security deal

ARBIL / IraqiNews.com: President of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region Massoud al-Barazani on Monday said that Iraq needs to sign the security agreement with the United States, adding that five committees have been set up for this purpose in the capital Baghdad. “Baghdad’s visit focused on two main aspects: the security agreement, and the relation between the Kurdistan region and Baghdad,” Barazani said today during a press conference at Arbil International Airport following his arrival from Baghdad. When asked about the regional government’s stance on the deal, Barazani said that Iraq needs a security agreement, provided that it does not violate its sovereignty. Earlier today, Barazani returned to Arbil city following a few-day trip to the capital Baghdad, where he met with senior officials. Arbil, also written Erbil or Irbil, is believed to be one of the oldest continuously inhabited in the world and is one of the largest cities in Iraq. The city lies eighty kilometers (fifty miles) east of Mosul. In 2005, its estimated population was 990,000 inhabitants. The city is the capital of the autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan region and the Kurdistan Regional Government Kurdistan RegionG). It hosts the headquarters of the Kurdistan region ministers and parliament. Since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, only isolated, sporadic violence has hit Arbil, unlike many other areas of Iraq. Parallel bomb attacks against the Eid celebrations arranged by the Iraqi President Jalal Talabani’s Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and Kurdistan RegionG President Massoud Barazani’s Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) killed 109 people on February 1, 2004. Responsibility was claimed by the Islamist group Ansar al-Sunnah, and stated to be in solidarity with the Kurdish Islamist faction Ansar al-Islam. Another bombing on May 4, 2005 killed 60 civilians. Despite these bombings the population generally feels safe. SS (S) 1