Turkey expects support from Kurdistan region – FM
In this photo released by the Turkish Presidency Press Office, Turkish President Abdullah Gul, right, and Massoud Barzani, the president of the autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq, speak during a meeting in Istanbul, Turkey, Friday, Nov. 4, 2011. Turkish leaders on Friday pressed Barzani to crack down on the Kurdish rebels launching cross-border attacks from their Iraqi mountain sanctuaries. (Turkish Presidency Press Office, HO)
ARBIL / IraqiNews.com: Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Dawood Oglu expected that Iraqi Kurdistan will support Turkey in chasing banned PKK elements, following his meeting with Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani. He described the meeting as “fruitful”, as reported by Turkish Anatolia news agency. “Our relations with the Iraqi Kurds had been developed lately”, Oglu added. He pointed out that “the practices of PKK party affected the Turkish and Kurdish peoples, not only in Turkey, but our brothers north Iraq”. Barzani expressed readiness to exert all possible efforts to enhance security relations with Turkey, pointing the importance of having good relations with it. Turkey is pressuring Kurdistan to hinder the actions made by the PKK, which the latest attack was on 19 October last that led to killing 24 Turkish soldiers and wounding more than twenty, in most extensive attack since years.