Iraq's President Says He Supports Kurdish Autonomy

SALAHADDIN, Iraq, July 21 (AFP) - Iraqi President Ghazi al-Yawar assured the country's Kurdish population on Wednesday that their existing autonomy would be preserved within the context of a future federal Iraq.
"We will support this experience of autonomy by all means," said Yawar during a visit to the tourist village of Salahaddin, north of Arbil, where he met Kurdish leader Massud Barzani.
"Federalism is a way to bring the diverse groups in our country together."
After the 1991 Gulf War, the Kurds broke away from the central government in Baghdad to set up their own administration in the north under British and US protection. They have continued to enjoy wide autonomy.
Yawar, a Sunni from the northern city of Mosul, said the federal nature of Iraq as outlined in the country's interim fundamental law passed under the administration of the US-led occupation "would be respected word-for-word."
For his part Barzani, head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, hailed Yawar as "a friend of the Kurdish people".
Barzani's stronghold is in Arbil while that of his rival, now turned ally, Jalal Talabani is Sulaymaniyah.