Iraq’s Talabani to return from medical exile

SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq: Iraqi President Jalal Talabani was to return from months of treatment abroad, with his crisis-hit country on the brink of breakup but his native Kurdistan buoyant with statehood hopes.
“President Talabani is coming home on Saturday July 19 after receiving successful health treatment in brotherly Germany,” his Patriotic Union of Kurdistan said on Friday.
The PUK said Talabani, due to fly into his Kurdish fiefdom of Sulaimaniyah, would resume his duties as head of state, in a statement also confirmed to AFP by his son Qubad.
While most of Iraq’s political power lies with the prime minister’s office, the 80-year-old Talabani was long seen as a key mediator between Iraq’s feuding factions.
But many observers now cast him off as a spent force, both physically and politically, with his long-time rival Massud Barzani presiding over the destiny of the autonomous Kurdish regional government.
Talabani will return to Iraq on the eve of a deadline for parliament’s various blocs to agree on candidates for his job, the latest step in what has been a protracted and tumultuous process to renew Iraq’s leadership following April elections.
However there was little expectation the veteran Kurdish leader would seek another term.