IPUK LEADER TALABANI: "TURKEY AND TURKMEN ARE OUR FRIENDS"

While the US operation against Iraq is continuing, Jalal Talabani, leader of the Iraqi Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (IPUK) who made a press statement on behalf of the Kurds living in Iraq, expressed that 'Turkey was their most important friend' and said that 'Turkmen would be the sixth member of the Iraqi Presidential Council to be established following the war'.

The IPUK leader Jalal Talabani who made an assessment with Mustafa Ramazan, an official from the Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITF), regarding the war in Iraq and the developments afterwards stated in a press conference he held on March 20, 2003 that negotiations with Turkmen would continue and said the following: "It is a critical period that we are going through. Kurds and Turkmen constituting the principal elements of Iraq are struggling for an Iraq based on democracy and equal rights. Central government to be established in the aftermath of the war should include all the Iraqis. Turkmen will be the sixth member of the Iraqi Presidential Council. No improvement can be achieved in the region without Turkmen. For this reason, Turkmen will be represented on every level." He also expressed that they aimed at strengthening their friendly relations with Turkmen.

On the other hand, Mustafa Ramazan from the Iraqi Turkmen Front noted that they struggled together with Talabani in the last 10 years against the Iraqi dictatorship and stressed that they were ready to cooperate with the IPUK in every field.

At the end of the press conference, Talabani and Ramazan expressed that 'they condemned the act of burning the Turkish flag in Iraq' and said, "Such acts are provocation attempts to deteriorate the friendly relations between Turkey and the Iraqi Kurds and between Turkmen and Kurds. Turkmen and Kurds will be like flesh and nail which cannot be separated."

In the meantime, a report of the Agency France Press (AFP) of March 20, 2003 covered the following statements: "Jalal Talabani, leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan which is the second and the most important Kurdish group in Iraq, said, 'We will remain on our lines of defense. Peshmargas will cooperate with the US. No matter what happens, we will never get involved in an act that could deteriorate our relations with the US and Turkey. Kurds will never forget the help provided by Turkey'."

An IPUK official Berham Salih, on the other hand, said in a press conference he held on March 20, 2003 that 'the act of burning the Turkish flag during the demonstrations in Northern Iraq was an unacceptable event' and expressed his reaction by saying "those who burnt the flag insulted Kurds not Turkey".

The IPUK official Berham Salih who expressed that Turkey had played a great role in ensuring peace and security in Northern Iraq in the last 10 years said, "We always had and will have good relations with Turkey".

Authorities state that "Turkey, being a model country with its secular and democratic structure, preserves its geopolitical and geostrategic importance", and note that "Turkey is making efforts for the establishment of democracy and peace in the region".