ANKARA - Patriotic Union of Iraqi Kurdistan (PUK) official Berham Salih met on Friday with Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Ugur Ziyal.
Salih told reporters after the meeting that they had a very open, honest and friendly meeting.
Noting that their interests were common with Turkey and they wanted a stable, democratic and prosperous Iraq, Salih said that Iraq's making consultations with its neighbors was important because the future of Iraq would bring significant results for the whole region.
Salih said that territorial integrity of Iraq was very important and added that all political parties and societies in Iraq had shared the same opinion on protecting the unity of Iraq within that scope.
Noting that the political issues which were concerning Iraq should be decided by Iraqi people, Salih said that Kurds were supporting the idea of a federal democratic Iraq and this would provide the protection of unity of Iraq and the rights of communities.
Salih said that rights of themselves and other communities were closely related with each other and added that they should live in peace and harmony and in a democratic state system and Iraq should be a peaceful region and should not be a source of clash.
Upon a question about the federation initiative depending on an ethnical base, Salih said that Iraq had a multi-ethnical society and added that the rights of all communities in Iraq, including Kurds, should be shown respect in constitutional arrangements.
Salih said that their view towards Iraq was clear and non of the institutions of government would depend on ethnical or religious basis, adding that they had a region named as Iraqi Kurdistan which had been governing itself for the last 14 years, noting that Iraq had an autonomous structure earlier in itself. He said that the Kurdistan region of Iraq was not depended on ethnical elements and many groups were living in this region.
Noting that they would not pave the way to division of Iraq into religious sects, religious and ethnical elements, Salih said that all those diversity would enrich Iraq and added that a united, democratic and federal system should be taken up while fulfilling all of these.
Upon a question, Salih said that they wanted a regional, autonomous and self-governing system in a federal democratic Iraq and added that there was not a condition that the prime minister of Kurdish region should certainly be Kurdish.
When asked whether his statements were contradicting with nis previous statement saying, ''Kirkuk is a Kurdish city'', Salih said that they did not say like that. He added that they only said that Kirkuk was a part of Kurdistan in historical and geographical aspects, but other communities were living in this city as well.
Salih said that the final status of Kirkuk, no matter it was included in other parts of federal Iraq or in Kurdish region, would be decided by the people in the region, not by any external force. He added that any community's taking decision by itself about the issue was out of question.
(GC-UK) 16.01.2004