Talabani didn’t hold Turkey responsible from attacks

WASHINGTON (AA) – Patriotic Union of Iraqi Kurdistan (PUK) high-level official Berham Salih has said allegations saying that the PUK held Turkey responsible for bomb attacks in Irbil city of Iraq were totally baseless.

After Israeli Debka File web-site claimed, "PUK leader Talal Jalabani talking later to senior US officials – believed to include visiting U.S. Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz – bluntly accused Turkish intelligence of orchestrating the massacre with the aim of wiping out the entire Iraqi Kurdish leadership at a single stroke," Salih sent a statement to the A.A bureau in Washington D.C. on Tuesday saying that "the news story was totally baseless."

Salih also denied the allegations saying that Talabani or himself made a complaint to the U.S. officials against Turkey.

"On the contrary to all these allegations, the attacks in Irbil can lead development of relations between Turkey and regional Kurdish administration. Iraqi Kurds welcomed Turkish government’s sincere messages of condolences. Also, Turkey has proposed us to undertake medical treatment of those who were injured in the suicide attacks. We are grateful to Turkey for its proposal," he said.

Noting that it was the same evil terrorism that hit Irbil and Istanbul, Salih called on the Debka File to withdraw such a wrongful news story.