Al Hakim against Kurds’ forming federation

Diplomatic sources said on Tuesday that Al-Hakim assumed an attitude against the initiative of Iraqi Kurds to form an ethnic-based federation in his meeting in the Foreign Ministry.

The same sources quoted Al-Hakim as saying in the meeting that they were not against a federation but they did not want a religious or ethnic based federation.

Al-Hakim expressed uneasiness about efforts of Kurdish groups in Iraq and said that Turkey was a big and strong country and it could help them.

Diplomatic sources said that Al-Hakim underlined that they wanted a constitutional order in which nobody pressed on nobody.

Al-Hakim said that neither sects nor Kurds should press.

Diplomatic sources noted that Turkey saw that there had not been any compromise between Shiites and Kurds on federation.

In the meeting, Al-Hakim stressed that role of neighbors was important for settlement of stability in Iraq.

Al-Hakim also expressed pleasure with Turkey’s contributions to stability of Iraq.

In the meeting, Al-Hakim said that they thought of giving priority to Turkish companies in economic projects and asked for Turkey’s help for economic and social issues and training of police force.