Eurasia Press & News
Nechirvan Barzani, the prime minister of Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), is coming to Turkey on Thursday, a visit that follows a recent high-level visit from the central administration of Iraq to Turkey, which signaled a thaw in strained relations with Baghdad.
According to diplomatic sources, Barzani, who paid his last visit to Turkey in late July, is visiting Ankara on Thursday upon an invitation from Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to meet with top government officials, including Erdoğan.
Barzani is also expected to meet with Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu during his time in Ankara.
The KRG prime minister and Turkish officials are expected to discuss the crisis in neighboring Syria, the settlement process the Turkish government is continuing with the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) to solve the country’s terrorism problem and intensifying diplomacy between Ankara and Baghdad.
Iraq’s general elections, which will take place in April 2014, Turkey’s cooperation with the KRG in the field of energy and the security situation in Iraq are other topics expected to come up during the meetings.
Last Thursday, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari paid a two-day official visit to Turkey and both countries decided to improve their relationship in a bid to put an end to frosty ties. During a joint press conference with Davutoğlu, Zebari said although there are differences of opinion on some issues between Baghdad and Ankara, there are no problems that cannot be solved. The Iraqi foreign minister called on Davutoğlu to turn a new page in relations.
Zebari’s visit to Turkey was a result of recent diplomatic traffic between Ankara and Baghdad. Last Wednesday, Volkan Bozkır, the parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee chairman, paid a visit to Baghdad to meet with top Iraqi officials and in particular to deliver an invitation to Nouri al-Maliki on behalf of Erdoğan. Speaker of the Iraqi Council of Representatives Usama Abdul Aziz al-Nujayfi also visited Ankara with a delegation from the Iraqi parliament in mid-September.
