Turkey’s special envoy to Iraq, Murat Ozcelik, discussed security issues, including the Iraqi-U.S. security pact with Massoud Barzani, the leader of the regional administration in northern Iraq, Peyamner News Agency (PNA) reported on Sunday.
The strategic security pack between Iraq and United States, relations between Iraq and Turkey, and recent incidents in the Iraqi parliament, were discussed in the meeting, the report said.
Ozcelik also met with Nechirvan Barzani, the prime minister of the region, in the Selahaddin province of northern Iraq, the Iraqi Kurdish PNA also reported.
The visit was held ahead of Iraqi Prime Minister's Nuri al-Maliki's visit to the region. Al-Maliki had met with Turkish President Abdullah Gul in Ankara on Dec. 4 to discuss how to deal with the terrorist PKK organization holed up in northern Iraq.
Ankara has sought close relations and economic cooperation with Baghdad but the safe haven the PKK enjoys in remote mountains of neighboring northern Iraq has cast a shadow on bilateral ties.
Turkish warplanes have been pounding terrorist hideouts across the border in northern Iraq since an Oct. 3, 2008 attack by PKK terrorists on a Turkish border outpost that killed 17 soldiers. |
