Untitled - orsam

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, who was recently re-elected, believes that despite the
success of the initiative of Kurdistan Region President Masud Barzani in finalizing the
subject of the three leadership posts in Iraq based on a power-sharing agreement
reached by the leaders of the political blocs, the initiative of King Abdullah Bin-Abdulaziz,
the custodian of the two holy shrines, inviting those leaders to a meeting in Riyadh
remains important to achieve national reconciliation. In an interview with Asharq al-
Awsat upon his arrival in Paris after he was re-elected president of the republic to attend
the Socialist International conference, Talabani said that he was ready to go to Riyadh for
this purpose as he described the initiative as "a good initiative in the interest of the Iraqi
people". Talabani also spoke about recent developments and the next task of distributing
the government posts to the political blocs. In the interview, he said that he wrote a
letter of designation to Prime Minister-designate Nuri al-Maliki and that he will send the
letter after Id al-Adha. He revealed that it was agreed that no party members will occupy
the post of defense minister and the security ministries. Talabani also affirmed that the
Kurdistan Alliance, of which he is a member, still clings to the foreign ministry portfolio
and wants current Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari to remain in his post "since he is a
successful minister and established very good relations on the Arab, regional, and
international levels. We have to reward successful and qualified persons rather than to
unjustly sentence them to exclusion".
The text of the interview follows:
[Asharq Al Awsat] You are the Deputy Chairman of Socialist International. What was your
contribution? Did Iraq participate in the discussions that took place during the
conference?
[Talabani] Iraq's contribution was reflected in my speech on democratic development in
Iraq and the problems that Iraq faces. I spoke in detail on the democratic track and the
audience listened attentively to the speech. I think that one of the resolutions will be a
recommendation to support Iraq and its democratic course. I asked the socialist parties
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