Russia continues its mediation between Baghdad and the Kurds
Iraq, Politics, 5/19/1998

Director of Russian Veldor Prom Company in Iraq, Valentine Korshkov, visited the Kurdistan Region of Iraq where he met with Jalal Talabani of Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.

They discussed the latest developments in the Kurdish peace process between the Kurdistan Democratic Party headed by Massud Barzani and the PUK of Jalal Talabani.

Bilateral relations between the Russian Federation and the Kurdish people and methods of promoting them were on the agenda.

Russia has been trying to mediate between Baghdad and the two Kurdish factions who control the Kurdish area in northern Iraq since the Gulf War ended in 1991 where Gulf war allied air forces patrol over the area under the claim of providing protection to Kurds from the Iraqi government.

Accusations were leveled in the past against Iraq in the 1980s for attacking the Kurds with chemical weapons that left more than 5,000 dead and more than 10,000 other civilians injured in Halabja, a charge that the Iraqi government denies.

Many Kurds claim that the Anfal campaign launched by Iraq against Kurdish villagers resulted in disappearance of more than 182,000 civilians, and more than 4,500 Kurdish villages were bulldozed in the region.

Barzani of the KDP warned the U.S. against ignoring the Kurdish issue, saying that other sides may fill the vacuum in the area.

Barzani said that Russia has expressed its willingness to mediate between the Kurds and the Iraqi government to end the disputes between the two sides. Barzani added that the most proper solution will be achieved through peace and reconciliation within the framework of a united Iraq.

Previous Stories:
  Kurdish peace process continues   (4/25/1998)
  Talabani: Hard work required to make peace in Kurdistan   (3/5/1998)
  Kurdish local minister, ICRC representative meet   (3/4/1998)

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