Iraq president Talabani returns after long absence
 

https://s1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/Z...PTP_2_IRAQ.JPGPresident Jalal Talabani returned to Iraq on Saturday for the first time since he suffered a stroke a year and a half ago and was flown abroad for medical treatment, state television said. During Talabani's absence, Sunni insurgents have overrun a large area of Iraq and negotiations are currently underway to form a new power-sharing government that would replace him as president. Although the presidency is a largely ceremonial position, Talabani was widely seen a unifying figure, both within Iraq and his own Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) party, which has struggled to contain internal divisions without him at the helm. In recent years, the PUK has lost ground in its own stronghold of Sulaimaniyah, upsetting the political duopoly, whereby it had shared power with the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) since the region gained auto**my in 1991.




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