BAGHDAD, Oct. 6 (Xinhua) -- The Iraqi Kurdish region held on Friday an official funeral ceremony as the body of the late Jalal Talabani, the first elected non-Arab president of Iraq arrived in Sulaimaniyah international airport.
An Iraqi Airway plane, transporting Talabani's body, arrived at the airport at 11:30 a.m. (0830 GMT), and his coffin was received as the Iraqi and the Kurdish regional anthems were played in the ceremony.
The Iraqi plane was exempted from a ban on international flights imposed a week ago by the Iraqi government on the Kurdistan region as a punishing measures for the referendum on independence held by the Kurdish region on Sept. 25.
The Iraqi President Fuad Masoum, a Kurd, and Kurdistan Region President Masoud Barzani attended the ceremony, in addition to the regional Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani, as well as dozens of foreign and local delegates and dignitaries.
The Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi was represented in the ceremony by the Interior Minister Qasim al-Araji. The Iraqi Vice President Nuri al-Maliki, the Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, as well as other Iraqi and Kurdish top officials and political leaders were also present at the ceremony.
On Wednesday, Abadi declared three-day mourning for the death of Talabani and sent a plane to Germany to bring back his body, as he died the day before at age 84, a week after Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region held a controversial referendum on independence.
Talabani, a veteran leader of the Kurdish struggle for self-determination, stepped down as president in 2014, after a long period of treatment following a stroke in 2012.
He used to receive treatment in Germany, but his health deteriorated and passed away.
Talabani was a leading Kurdish statesman and founder of the PUK, one of the two ruling parties in the autonomous Kurdish region.
He was known as Iraq's peacemaker, who played a vital role in the country's unity since after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. But his health condition and long absence have caused a decline in his influence.
Talabani was elected as president in 2005, the first non-Arab to take the post, two years after the U.S.-led invasion that toppled former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, a Sunni Arab.
The death of the Kurdish leader came as tensions are running high between the Baghdad government and the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan after the Kurdish region held a controversial referendum on independence of Kurdistan and disputed areas.
