Saleeh: U.S. And International Stability Force Should Remain In Iraq Until Government Is Set Up

ANKARA - High ranking representative of Iraqi Patriotic Union for Kurdistan (PUK) Bahram Saleeh said on Tuesday that ''the U.S. and the International Stability Force should remain in Iraq until the new government is set up.''
Speaking to the press after meeting with Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Ugur Ziyal, Saleeh said that the U.S. helped Iraq to save itself from Saddam Hussein and that the Iraqi people were grateful to the U.S. and Britain for that reason.
''The U.S. and the International Stability Force should remain in Iraq as long as there is such a need, and until the government which is composed of elected representatives, is founded,'' he said.
Noting that the new government in Iraq had to confirm the sovereignty of the Iraqi people, Saleeh said that the government had to deal with the problems of Iraq.
He said that his meeting with Ziyal was held in a friendly way and that they discussed the Iraqi issue from all aspects, adding that the Saddam regime ended and the issues that had priority was peace and transition to democracy.
Saleeh said that the people in north of Iraq considered the secular democratic model of Turkey as a positive model, adding that ''I believe that we can work together with neighbours of Iraq and particularly with Turkey for formation of a solution which will yield positive results for the Iraqi people and the neighbouring countries.''
Saleeh said that the government to be founded had to defend the territorial integrity of Iraq, the principles of federal democracy and the equality of all citizens, adding that he believed that Turkey would help them in this process.
At the meeting, the two sides reached a compromise about foundation of a regime that would represent the whole Iraqi people. Sources said that Turkey was pleased with the Iraqi Kurdish leaders would seek for ensuring their future within Iraq. The issue of developing relations with PUK was also taken up during the meeting. Turkey stressed that terrorist organization PKK/KADEK had to be prevented from benefiting from the authority vacuum in the region and the rights of Turkmens had to be protected.
Sources said that Saleeh reiterated during the meeting that they wanted to take Turkish model as basis in reconstruction of Iraq and he assured that certain problems which were earlier witnessed would not occur again.
(ÖS-AÖ) 29.04.2003