Ex-Iraqi President Jalal Talabani dies in Berlin at 83

Jalal Talabani, a former president of Iraq and a Kurdish political leader, passed away Tuesday at the age of 83, according to family members.

Speaking exclusively to Anadolu Agency, family members said Talabani had died Tuesday in a hospital in German capital Berlin following a long struggle with illness.

Talabani was born on Nov. 12, 1933 in the northern Iraqi city of Sulaymaniyah.

He was elected president of post-invasion Iraq in 2005 and was re-elected for a second term in 2010.

Talabani is also the founder of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) party, of which he had served as secretary-general.