Jeffrey’s visit to Arbil not to settle differences

ARBIL / IraqiNews.com: A member of northern Iraq’s Kurdistan Alliance Member, Muhsin al-Saadoun, has denied on Saturday that a current visit by the U.S. Ambassador in Iraq for Kurdistan Region had taken place to settle the differences between Arbil and Baghdad.   “Ambassador James Jeffrey’s visit to the Kurdistan Region was a normal visit, and had no announced schedule for,” Saadoun told IraqiNews.com news agency, denying “the existence of any relationship between the visit’s motive and the problems between the Arbil and Baghdad governments.”   “The Kurdish parties had pointed to the Arbil Agreement and their presence in the Parliament and their preparation to activate the dialogue with Baghdad,” he said.  “It is crucial that the agreement be respected in order to achieve success for the political process in the country,” he noted.   Noteworthy is that some media sources had described Ambassador Jeffrey’s visit to Arbil on Friday night to meet with Kurdistan President, Massoud Barzani, on Saturday, as “an American attempt to pacify the situation between Baghdad and Arbil.”   The Leaders of Kurdistan Parties in Arbil and Baghdad had confirmed, during their meeting last Tuesday, attended by Kurdistan President Barzani and its Premier, Barham Saleh, necessity for cohesion to the alliances and agreements that led to the formation of the Federal Government in Baghdad, calling on all allied forces in Baghdad to “overcome their current problems, stemming from their spirit of responsibility.”   The final statement about the said meeting had pointed out that “there had been a long postponement of important items of the agreements, concluded among them, especially those related to the basis of the national partnership and the principle of balancing, based on the Constitution, and to avoid negligence of solving the suspended problems with Kurdistan Region.”   SKH (TF)/SR 276