Turkey's foreign minister meets KRG leaders in Erbil

Fidan and Masrour Barzani (Photo: AA)

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Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met with the President of the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), Nechirvan Barzani, and PM Masrour Barzani today.

During his first visit to Iraq as the foreign minister, Fidan expressed "great pleasure" at being in Erbil after his meetings in Baghdad. He said that he had the opportunity to thoroughly evaluate bilateral relations with KRG President Neçirvan Barzani and KRG Prime Minister Mesrur Barzani.

Fidan emphasized that Turkey's relations with Baghdad and Erbil have always been important items on the country's agenda, noting that bilateral relations are progressing dynamically. During the meeting, Fidan stated that they had the opportunity to review many issues such as "fighting terrorism," energy, economy, and trade. He said that Turkey is ready to provide all kinds of assistance and support to the Erbil administration for the establishment of "stability" and security in the region.

"Fighting terrorism"

"We had the opportunity to discuss economic issues, the Development Path Project, fighting terrorism, water issues, Iraq's reconstruction, infrastructure and superstructure projects with relevant authorities, including the Foreign Minister, Prime Minister and President," Fidan said.

"In addition, we met with political party leaders and executives who formed the government in Baghdad. We had the opportunity to discuss both Turkey's relations with them and regional issues as well as Iraq's issues."

"There is still much work to be done to get rid of the scourge of terrorism," he said, referring to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is based in KRG and has waged an armed insurgency in Turkey's Kurdish-majority regions for decades. "As you know, we have largely resolved this issue in Turkey. Currently, PKK terrorism is hiding itself on Iraqi soil. We will clean this virus from Iraq together."

Fidan expressed his satisfaction with the determination of both the Baghdad administration and the Erbil administration to eliminate the "PKK terrorism." "We are also pleased with this. We will provide all possible support to these authorities," he said. (TY/VK)