REPLACEMENT OF TALABANI

14.5.2013 – KURDPRESS – The Kurdistan Region co-ruling Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) blamed today the Iraqi Supreme Court head’s Monday remarks, when Qazafar Hamud al- Jasem asked Parliament Speaker Osman al-Najufi to replace ailing president Jalal Talabani.

“Parliament law commission called the Supreme Court Head Jasem’s call illegal and said it will not study it, “PUK spokesman Azad Jundiyani told PUKmedia, the party’s mouthpiece. Jundiyani called the move political. Meanwhile, Iraq Parliament Law Commission Chief Khaled Shwani called the request illegal, revealing an absent president cannot be replaced unless he or she dies, is convicted or removed. Suffering a severe heart stroke in Decembers last year, Talabani was transferred to Germany for receiving treatments. He is still hospitalized in Berlin Charite hospital, whose doctors say the president’s health status is improving and he will soon return home. Agreement between Iraq’s political factions grants the presidency of the country to the Kurds running their own autonomous region in the north.