SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Kurdistan Region’s Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani on Tuesday called for unity and putting aside minor issues on the anniversary of electing Mam Jalal Talabani as the first president of Republic of Iraq.
On April 6, 2005, Mam Jalal, secretary general of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), elected as the first Iraqi president after the collapse of Saddam Hussein’s regime.
Mam Jalal, one of the country’s most powerful and unifying leaders and a man who spent much of his life fighting for the cause of Kurds, died on October 3, 2017 at age 83 in a hospital in the German capital, where he received medical treatment.
“On the anniversary of Mam Jalal’s election as president of the republic, we emphasize that we need his diplomacy and wisdom more than ever to open the blind knots in Kurdistan and Iraq,” said Qubad Talabani, Jalal Talabani’s son.
“We need unity and to put aside minor issues for the sake of the high national goals,” he added.
Mam Jalal was one of the famous politicians in Kurdish history who stood against the former Iraqi dictatorship and struggled for establishing democracy in Iraq.
PUK co-leader Bafel Talabani also said April 6 is the day of “our responsibility” towards the Kurdistan Region’s people.
“Democracy, reconciliation and coexistence were the basis of Mam Jalal’s politics, and we will also hold that torch. Dialogue and understanding will be our strategy of working, and we will continue on its path,” he added.
