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KurdistanObserver.com
Talabani, Barzani Agree To One Kurdistan Government
ARBIL, (Southern Kurdistan), Jan 21, 2006 (AFP)
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Kurdish regional president Massud Barzani on
Saturday signed an agreement that paves the way for a single administration to
run their autonomous northern region.
Until now Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party was solely responsible for
running Arbil and Dohuk, while Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan ran
Sulaimaniyah province.
However the agreement does not merge the PUK's and KDP's departments of
interior, finance, justice or peshmerga forces.
"This is an important development which will protect Kurdistan which has
become a solid base for democracy, unity and national accord," Talabani said.
Barzani said a sole administration would "help reclaim other parts of
Kurdistan," in a reference to the ethnically mixed oil-hub of Kirkuk that Kurds
consider their own, located just south of their autonomous region.
Since 1998, rivalries between the two formerly warring Kurdish factions have
prevented repeated attempts to set up a joint administration.
The move, originally announced on January 7, was approved by the Kurdish
regional parliament after an extraordinary session in Arbil.
The naming of an executive chief was put off until next week. The two parties
also decided that a Kurdistan vice president to act as Barzani's deputy should
come from the PUK.
US ambassador to Baghdad Zalmay Khalilzad was among the diplomats who
attended the parliamentary session.
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