by Jamal Hashim

    BAGHDAD, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki paid a visit on Sunday to the northern Kurdish region to hold talks with Kurdish leaders over disputes of oil and land.

    Maliki arrived in the city of Sulaimaniyah, some 330 km north of Baghdad, and was received by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, and senior Kurdish leaders.

Kurdish President Masoud Barazani (L) welcomes Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki (R) after his arrival at Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region near Sulaimaniya, 260 km (160 miles) northeast of Baghdad, August 2, 2009. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    Later in the day, Maliki held talks with the Kurdish leaders at Dukan resort, some 75 km northeast of Sulaimaniyah, during which the two sides voiced commitment to solving their problems in reference to the constitution and forming committees to continue discussions over the disputed issues between Baghdad and the Kurdish region.

    "Our meeting was positive and we have agreed to support the national unity and the federal system," Maliki told reporters after meeting with Talabani and Masoud Barzani, the president of the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG).

Iraq's President Jalal Talabani (L) talks with Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki during his visit to Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region near Sulaimaniya, 260 km (160 miles) northeast of Baghdad, August 2, 2009. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    "We also agreed on the necessity of finding a mechanism to continue discussions to solve the pending problems between the region and Baghdad," Maliki said.

    For his part, Barzani said his regional government will send a delegation to Baghdad soon to continue the discussions.

    Maliki's talks with Kurdish leaders came amid U.S. pressure on the central government and the Kurdish authorities to compromise the deep differences between Arabs and Kurds before the U.S. troops complete withdrawal from Iraq in 2011.

Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki (L), Iraq's President Jalal Talabani (C) and Kurdish President Masoud Barzani meet in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region near Sulaimaniya, 260 km (160 miles) northeast of Baghdad, August 2, 2009. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

 

    Maliki's visit is his first to the autonomous region since he took office in 2006 as prime minister of Iraq's first permanent government after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

    The talks between Baghdad and the Kurdish region came on the heels of Kurdish parliamentary and presidential elections that resulted in re-election of Barzani as the president of the KRG and two main Kurdish parties retaining control of the Kurdish parliament.

Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, Iraq's President Jalal Talabani and Kurdish President Masoud Barzani hold a meeting in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region near Sulaimaniya, 260 km (160 miles) northeast of Baghdad, August 2, 2009. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    The Kurds' demands to expand their autonomous region in northern Iraq to include the oil-rich and ethnically-mixed province of Kirkuk and other areas in the Iraqi provinces of Nineveh and Diyala have increased tensions between Maliki's Shiite-dominated government and the Kurds.

    In June, the Kurdish parliament in Arbil approved a new draft constitution for their autonomous region, legalizing its claims to the oil-rich Kirkuk as well as other disputed areas in Nineveh and Diyala provinces, a move widely condemned by Arabs as a step toward splintering Iraq.

    U.S. diplomats and military officials have repeatedly warned the potential for a confrontation between Iraqi central government and the Kurdish region.

    Last week, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates visited Iraq and urged both Arabs and Kurds to solve their disputes before American troops leave Iraq by the end of 2011, in line with a security pact signed late last year between Baghdad and Washington.

    "We are willing to assist in resolving disputes over boundaries and hydrocarbons, disputes that require continued commitment to the political process by word and deed," Gates said.

    The main Kurdish parties, the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP), led by Barzani, and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, ran the region's parliamentary elections on July 25 in a joint list and won 57 percent of the votes.

    Observers see Iraq's parliamentary elections early next year push Maliki to seek support from the powerful Kurdish parties as his own grouping is unlikely to gain enough seats by its own to secure majority in the 275-seat Iraqi parliament.