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Newspaper: Iraqi president to resign

Arab World Materials 23 May 2012 18:41 (UTC +04:00)

Azerbaijan, Baku, May 23 / Trend A.Taghiyeva /

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani is preparing to resign because of disagreements between the central government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of Iraqi Kurdistan, KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani said in an interview with the Iraqi Hawlati newspaper.

"Talabani prepares for retirement. By making this step the president demonstrates support to the Kurdish autonomy," Barzani said.

Earlier, KRG head Massoud Barzani said that the situation in Iraq is extremely complicated, as Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is leading the country toward dictatorship.

Barzani said he shared his concerns on this issue with U.S. President Barack Obama. He also said that he intends to conduct with the Iraqi authorities an emergency meeting where they will discuss all the problems between Baghdad and the KRG.

If the parties can not agree on specific changes, the KRG will no longer regard al-Maliki as Iraqi Prime Minister of Iraq, Barzani said.

In October, 2011, the relations between the KRG in northern Iraq and Baghdad deteriorated after Exxon Mobil received a permission from the authorities of the Kurdish administration to conduct oil exploration and production in the Iraqi region. Baghdad considered the deal as illegal and warned the company that if it does not abandon the agreement with the Kurds, its deals with the central Iraqi government may be revised.

Amid this situation the KRG announced it would stop all oil supplies through a central Iraqi government.

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