STORY SUMMARY
The president of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region, Massud Barzani, held landmark talks in Baghdad on Sunday with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on an array of disputes plaguing relations between the two sides.
Barzani met Maliki, after which the two held a joint news conference in the capital’s heavily-fortified Green Zone — a major change from last year, when the Kurdish leader was advocating the premier’s removal from office.
Kurdish leaders want to incorporate a swathe of land stretching from Iraq’s eastern border with Iran to its western frontier with Syria into their autonomous region over the objections of Maliki’s government.
Later in 2012, the establishment of the Tigris Operations Command, a federal military command covering disputed territory in the north, drew an angry response from Kurdish leaders.
In June, Maliki chaired a cabinet session in Arbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdistan region, and the two sides agreed to form joint committees to deal with disputes.
Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2013/Jul-07/222852-iraqi-kurdistan-chief-in-baghdad-for-talks-on-disputes.ashx#ixzz2YNxqDcPR
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)
Categories: Arab World, Asia, Iraq
This is a major incident actually. Let’s see what comes out of it.