President Talabani arrives in Sulaimaniya to hold meetings

Sulaimaniya-President SULAIMANIYA / IraqiNews.com: Iraqi President Jalal Talabani on Monday arrived in Sulaimaniya to hold a series of meetings with Kurdish officials and businessmen, the central media official of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) said. “Talabani arrived here accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister Burham Saleh and the head of the Kurdistan Alliance Fouad Maasoum,” Azad Jindiani told IraqiNews.com. “The president will hold more than six meetings with the leaders of the (PUK) and its members as well as the Sulaimaniya governor and businessmen,” he added. The modern city of Sulaimaniya, 364 kilometers north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, was founded in 1748 by a Kurdish prince known as Ibrahim Pasha Baban who named it for his father Sulaiman Pasha. Since being founded as the capital of a powerful Kurdish principality it has grown to about 1,800,000 people. Sulaimaniya, known as Zamwa prior to its founding, is the cultural center of the Sorani-speaking Kurds and an important economic centre for Iraqi Kurdistan. SH (P)/SR 1