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| Axis of Evil |
| Talabani visiting Soddy Arabia... |
| 2002-07-14 |
| A Saudi source has confirmed the arrival of the Iraqi Kurdish leader Jalal Talbani in the Kingdom. According to some reports, Talbani arrived in Saudi Arabia at the head of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) delegation. PUK is one of the two main Kurdish factions sharing control of northern Iraq, which Iraq lost control of during the 1991 Gulf war. The PUK shares control of the Iraqi Kurdistan with the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) of Massoud Barzani. The PUK Foreign Affairs Chief Sadi Ahmad Pire was quoted as telling the press that Talbani, who is on his fourth visit to the Kingdom since the Gulf War, would stay in Saudi Arabia for several days and would hold talks with Saudi officials on issues related to the situation in Iraq. He could not immediately provide the names of the Saudi officials with whom Talbani would meet, but stressed the visit was part of the PUK's consultations with Iraq's neighbours. Talbani has already visited Syria, Turkey and Iran since March this year. Talabani will also visit some other countries in the region, possibly Kuwait and Jordan. It looks like Talabani and probably Barzani are going to be pretty major actors in this impending drama. I guess it could be just coincidence that he's visited Syria, Turkey and Iran since March, and has plans to do Kuwait and Jordan when he leave Arabia — but the itinerary makes a pretty big argument that he's gathering promises. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |