Dr Muzaffar Arslan, Advisor to Iraqi President Jalal Talabani accuses Kurds of taking advantage of the instable situation in Iraq

Turkmen Figure Says Kurds Benefit From Destabilized Iraq
By: iStockAnalyst
Sunday, July 06, 2008

Text of report by Sbay media website on 6 July

An advisor to the Iraqi president, Jalal Talabani, has accused the Kurds of taking advantage of the instable situation and the loss of balance in Iraq. He has also called on the European Union [EU] and the non-governmental organizations [NGOs] to put pressure on the governments of Iraq and Kurdistan Region.

In his address to a conference on "the Kirkuk problem and the Article 140, the views of Arabs and Turkmens", which was held in the European parliament in Brussels, Talabani's advisor on Turkoman issues, Muzaffar Arslan, has said: "Following the fall of Saddam Husayn's regime, the balance of the state has been destroyed. There has been miscarriage of justice and the Kurds have been the major beneficiaries from the situation taking advantage of the US support."

Muzaffar Arslan added: "The situation is going on at present and we urge the European Union and the NGOs to put pressure on the governments of Iraq and Kurdistan Region in order for these two governments to give up their extremism against the other nations."

Talabani's advisor called for the formation of a region for Turkmens saying: "Three regions should be formed [in Iraq] in order to prevent the incorporation of Arab and Turkmen territories into the northern region [the Iraq Kurdistan Region]."

He emphasized that the number of Kurds in Kurdistan Region was less than the total number of the other ethnic minorities. He added that Arbil [the capital city of the Kurdistan Region] was known as a Turkmen city until the 1950s and it had been made a Kurdish city by force.

(c) 2008 BBC Monitoring Middle East. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved. Story Source: BBC Monitoring Middle East

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Note: The Turkmen Conference at the EU Parliament took place on June 23, 2008.