On the Kurdish meeting on Northern Iraq

The Turkish daily Hurriet on Friday said that chairman of the Kurdistani National Federation Jalal al-Talibani, and the chairman of the Kurdistani Democratic Party Mesout Barzani would have met on Friday in northern Iraq.

The paper said that such a meeting is an indication on the beginning of a new era in Northern Iraq. The paper added that Talibani and Barzani signed an agreement in Washington last September and that they held meetings in London and Ankara, but noted that their meeting in northern Iraq is the first since four years and following three years of ending their armed conflict in an attempt to establish a joint administration.

The paper added that the two Kurdish leaders are preparing to "the eventual expected end of Saddam Hussein," adding that Friday's meeting was but the beginning of the US return to Northern Iraq as well as the first step to establish a Kurdish administration in the region.