IRAQ: Iraqi President Jalal Talabani returns home after spending two weeks in Jordanian hospital because of exhaustion

Record ID: 561333

  • Title: IRAQ: Iraqi President Jalal Talabani returns home after spending two weeks in Jordanian hospital because of exhaustion
  • Date: 15th March 2007
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) IRAQ'S PRESIDENT JALAL TALABANI SAYING: "In the name of God the compassionate, the merciful, O masses of heroic Kurdistan. I greet you warmly and thank you for your many kindnesses. I renew my pledge to you to remain a peshmerga (Kurdish fighter), and to struggle to achieve all your objectives within a democratic, federal, united, independent and prosperous Iraq. I take this opportunity to offer many thanks to all those who asked after me while I was in hospital, foremost amongst whom are the senior clergy, led by Sayyed Ali al-Sistani, and the other gracious clergy. I also thank the two vice presidents, the prime minister, the speaker of parliament, parliament, and many brothers (citizens), and all the Iraqi (political) parties. Thus I have expressed my feelings towards the kindness of all those brothers. Excuse me for not wanting to speak for long. From here, heroic Sulaymaniya, I offer many deep thanks to his majesty King Abdullah the Second, who inundated me with his kindness, and made available to me intensive (hospital) care, and visited me in hospital and bade me farewell there. I thanks those who ..."
  • Embargoed: 30th March 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Iraq
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: Domestic Politics,People
  • Reuters ID: LVA6NNPD7M28QA8NL678XQEEIFC8
  • Story Text: Iraqi President Jalal Talabani returns to Iraq after spending two weeks in Jordanian hospital because of exhaustion.

    Iraqi President Jalal Talabani was greeted by thousands of Kurds as he returned to Iraq on Wednesday (March 14) and vowed to pursue a federal Iraq.
    Talabani returned to the northern city of Sulaimaniya after two weeks in a Jordanian hospital where he was recovering from exhaustion.
    People in the crowd waved Kurdish flags and others danced to loud music before Talabani's arrival in a party atmosphere.
    "I renew my pledge to you to remain a peshmerga (Kurdish fighter), and to struggle to achieve all your objectives within a democratic, federal, united, independent and prosperous Iraq," Talabani told the crowd to a huge cheer.
    Talabani, a former Kurdish rebel leader in his early 70s, was flown to Jordan for medical tests on February 25 for fatigue and had been recuperating in hospital since.
    It was not clear when he would return to work but an official from his party told Reuters he was in good health and would spend several days to rest in Sulaimaniya before returning to his office in Baghdad.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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