Thread: Archive Latest News - Think Tank - 03/11/07 - 31/12/07

Time ripe for Parliament to Endorse several Drafts, Maliki tells Rice

Baghdad, Nov 3, (VOI) – Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki told U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Istanbul that the time was ripe for the Iraqi parliament to endorse several draft laws adopted by the government, including those on oil & gas and accountability.

The U.S. administration was blaming the Iraqi government for failure to pass a number of important draft laws like the drafts on oil & gas and the accountability, which is known as the debaathification law.

"Maliki and Rice discussed several issues of mutual concern and the importance of an Iraqi-Turkish-U.S. cooperation to deal with the threat posed by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)," according to a statement by the Iraqi cabinet on Saturday.

"The PKK is a terrorist organization, not just to Turkey but to Iraq as well, particularly as far as security and economic aspects are concerned," the statement quoted Maliki as saying.

In his speech before the Istanbul conference on Saturday, the Iraqi premier called on his country's neighbors to increase their security measures along their borders with Iraq and respect Iraq's sovereignty.
Maliki said that his government has taken "a firm decision to close down all offices and headquarters of the terrorist PKK all over Iraqi territories."

"We announce before you today that we have taken drastic measures to block any facilities reaching this terrorist organization via airports and borders," Maliki said, adding "the constitution of Iraq compels us to respect relations with neighboring countries and not to allow our territories to be used to wage aggression on any country."

http://www.aswataliraq.info/look/english/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=4&NrArticle =59337&NrIssue=2&NrSection=1