Eurasia Press & News
TEHRAN (FNA)- Iraqi President Jalal Talabani Sunday said that during the meeting with his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the two sides have not discussed border issues.Speaking to reporters in Baghdad following his meeting with Iranian president, Talabani voiced deep pleasure in Ahmadinejad’s visit and named Iraq as second home to Ahmadinejad.
“The trip to Iraq by the Islamic Republic of Iran’s president has a clear message as it is the first time that a president is paying an official visit to this country following Iraq’s occupation (by the US troops),” he said.
The Iraqi president appreciated Iranian nation’s brotherly sentiments and solidarity with his people, saying that it has the clear message of continued ties at the best levels.
“This visit also has a message for regional countries and we hope that these countries receive the message of this trip,” he continued.
Talabani said that during his talks with Ahmadinejad the two sides had reminisced about the past, the time when Iraqis were fighting against the former dictator Saddam Hussein.
“The Iranian nation has helped and assisted the Iraqi nation at the time of hardship and pain and I believe that this visit will be accompanied by positive achievements,” he said.
Talabani also pointed out that during his talks with Ahmadinejad, the two sides have reviewed ties and cooperation in such areas as oil and economy, but meantime reiterated that the two presidents have not discussed the Algiers Treaty which defines their common border.
The 1975 Algiers treaty defining the Iran-Iraq border was signed in the Algerian capital in 1975 by Iraq’s then-Vice President Saddam Hussein and the Shah of Iran.
In September 1980, former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein launched an 8-year war on Iran under the pretext of border problems, and caused death and agony for millions of people in both countries.
Asked about the presence of the Islamic Republic’s armed opposition, the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization in Iraq, Talabani underscored that his country’s constitution bans presence of the terrorist group in Iraq, adding that proper measures have been adopted to flush the MKO out of Iran’s western neighbor.
At the end of the press conference, the Iraqi president shook Ahmadinejad’s hands very warmly and expressed deep joy and pleasure in Ahmadinejad’s visit to Iraq.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in Baghdad Sunday morning on an official two-day visit at the invitation of his Iraqi counterpart, the first such visit to Iraq by an Iranian leader since the 1979 Iranian revolution that overthrew the US-backed Shah.
Both Talabani and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki have visited Iran.
