Talabani: Kurdish state 'just a dream'

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ANKARA, Turkey, March 16 (UPI) -- An independent Kurdish state is "just a dream" and won't happen because Kurds see advantages to remaining in Iraq, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani says.

In an interview published Monday in the Turkish newspaper Sabah, Talabani said that it would not be realistic to believe that an independent Kurdish state could survive in a neighborhood that includes Turkey, Iran and Syria, the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet reported Monday.

"I tell my Turkish brothers not to fear that Kurds will declare independence," Talabani, himself a Kurd, said in the interview. "It is an advantage for Kurds to stay within the borders of Iraq in terms of their economic, cultural, social and political interests."

He added that uniting Kurds scattered throughout Iraq, Turkey and Iran, within one Kurdish state is "just a dream in poems."