SULAIMANI (ESTA) — The Kurdistan Region and Iraq on Monday commemorated the fifth anniversary of the passing of Mam Jalal Talabani.
Former Iraqi President and Secretary-General of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) Mam Jalal died in Germany aged 83 on October 3, 2017.
Talabani is known among the Kurds as Mam Jalal or Uncle Jalal.
He was the first elected non-Arab president of Iraq who oversaw the immediate aftermath of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. Talabani was elected as the Iraqi president in 2005 and re-elected for a second term in 2010.
Late President Mam Jalal spearheaded Kurdistan’s independence struggle and dedicated his life to the Kurdish cause.
Following the failure of the September Revolution in 1975, Mam Jalal and a group of senior Kurdish figures founded the PUK and endured the Kurdish revolt against the former Iraqi Regime of Sadam Hussein.
Mam Jalal is portrayed as a Kurdish leader who sacrificed his entire life to achieve the cultural and national rights of the Kurds and is also highly respected in the wider Iraq and the Middle East for his prosperous peace-making policies.
He is also known for his pragmatic and compromising politics that set a balance between Iraq’s various components, including Arabs and Kurds, Shia and Sunni Arabs.
On Monday, people and PUK officials visited the tomb of Mam Jalal in Sulaimani city, paying tributes to the late president to mark the fifth anniversary of his death.
With the attendance of senior Iraqi and Kurdish officials and diplomats, Erbil hosted an enormous ceremony, marking the fifth anniversary of the passing of Mam Jalal Talabani.
During that ceremony “President Jalal Talabani Foundation” for culture and development was announced.
The Iraqi President, the Prime Minister of Iraq, and the President of the Kurdistan Region delivered a speech, paying tributes to the late Mam Jalal Talabani.
“Mam Jalal was not only a leader and a political thinker, rather he was shining and innovative guide of the new Kurdish revolution, and in the meantime, he was a senior Peshmerga of the Kurdish independence movement including Iraqi freedom movement,” Iraqi President Barham Salih said.
“Iraq needs that peaceful language that late Mam Jalal Talabani had adopted in the negotiations, he fought for freedom and democracy, Talabani’s remembrance is in a time when Iraq extremely needs him, we all need the diplomatic language of Talabani,” Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi said.
“We mark the anniversary of Mam Jalal Talabani’s death with respect and honor, we have all felt the gap that Talabani has left,” President of the Kurdistan Region Nechirvan Barzani said.
“When Mam Jalal died a fundamental pillar of political consensus in Iraq collapsed,” President Barzani added. “Since then Baghdad has lost the center of tranquility and discussion.”
“Mam Jalal has returned to god, but our love and respect for him remain,” Barzani continued.
“Mam Jalal was a struggler who dedicated all of his life to peace, freedom, democracy, and human rights and democracy as well, he left a doctrine that if you investigate it, it will guide us in the difficulties,” the son of Mam Jalal, Qubad Talabani said.
