¡¡¡¡ANKARA, June 14 (Xinhuanet) -- Robert Deutsch, a diplomat known to be an expert on Iraq and northern Iraq in particular, has been appointed as the deputy chief of mission of the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, the Turkish Daily News reported on Friday.

¡¡¡¡Deutsch will replace James Jeffrey, who is to be transferred to the U.S. Embassy in Albania as Ambassador.

¡¡¡¡Deutsch, who is expected to assume the new post at the end of June, is currently in Washington on a Turkish course.

¡¡¡¡Deutsch is one of the figures behind the Ankara process initiated in 1996 involving the Jilal Talabani-led Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, Massoud Barzani-chaired Kurdistan Democratic Party, Iraqi Turkomans, Britain, the United States and Turkey.

¡¡¡¡He has travelled to northern Iraq many times and maintains closecontacts with the Iraqi Kurdish leaders.

¡¡¡¡Deutsch is said to be one of the diplomats with a deep background on Iraq and northern Iraq.

¡¡¡¡At a time when the Iraqi affairs are dominating the international politics, the appointment of Deutsch to Ankara has been evaluated as of strategic importance.

¡¡¡¡It was reported that Washington has recently stepped up efforts to iron out differences between different political groups in northern Iraq as part of preparations for a military operations against Iraqi government of President Saddam Hussein. Enditem

¡¡¡¡