BAGHDAD • Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stood at a table decked with flowers as he and President Jalal Talabani heaped praise on each other during a joint news conference in Baghdad yesterday.
“This is a new page in the history of the relations between the two countries,” beamed Ahmadinejad as he began a landmark two-day visit, an equally elated Talabani standing by his side.
There were pink and purple carnations on the visitor’s side, and red and white carnations for the host.
Iraq and Iran fought a bitter war between 1980 and 1988 that killed one million people, but in Baghdad on yesterday there was only brotherly love — and hugs and kisses to spare.
One reporter asked Ahmadinejad, wearing a dark grey suit and an open-collared white shirt, the main reason for his visit. “You should not ask about a meeting between brothers, you should ask why brothers don’t meet,” he answered.
Talabani cut his guest off at one point when he was addressed by Ahmadinejad as “Your Excellency, Mr President.”
“Just call me Mam Jalal,” Talabani quipped. It means ‘Uncle Jalal’ in Kurdish, a reference to his long-standing nickname. Ahmadinejad smiled.
However Talabani, a Kurd, addressed his guest as “President Doctor Mahmoud Ahmedinejad.”
“I hope that you will stay here in Iraq for a long time,” said Talabani, who described the visit as “historic.”
An interpreter translated their conversation for reporters, even though Talabani is a fluent speaker of Farsi, the language of Iran.
Half way through the news conference Talabani, who is 74 and overweight, signalled for a chair so he could sit down. His Iranian counterpart, a spry 51, remained on his feet.
As the news conference ended Talabani eagerly grasped Ahmadinejad’s hand with both hands and shook it, smiling for the cameras.
Ahmadinejad appears shorter in person than he does on television. He was sometimes dwarfed by Iraqi politicians who leaned down to hug him and kiss him on the cheeks.
Iranian secret service agents, marked by their closed-cropped beards and buttoned-up white shirts with no ties, swarmed everywhere.
Outside the Talabani compound US troops, normally high-profile at key intersections near the Iraqi president’s residence, were noticeably absent.
Kurdish Peshmerga members of the Iraqi presidential guard provided security instead, and Iranian and Iraqi flags lined the road from the entrance of Talabani’s compound to the main building.
