|
A delegation from
the Iraqi Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) of
Massoud Barzani 'President of Kurdistan-Iraq' was in
Ankara yesterday for the first talks between Turkish
officials and Iraqi Kurds after Iraq's parliamentary
elections earlier this month.
It was not clear when the delegation led by Safin
Dizayee, the former Turkey representative of the KDP
who is currently in charge of the party's foreign
relations, arrived in Ankara and there were no
details about their talks.
There was no meeting scheduled for the delegation at
the Foreign Ministry. News reports said the KDP
officials were expected to have talks with officials
from the National Intelligence Organization (MIT).
KDP sources had earlier said Nechirvan Barzani,
Prime Minster of Kurdistan government in Iraq and a
leading official of the party, would visit Turkey in
December but the plans have apparently changed.
The head of MIT, Emre Taner, held confidential talks
with Barzani in late October in Kurdistan (northern
Iraq), before the Kurdish leader started a
high-profile tour of Western countries during which
he received red-carpet treatment from U.S. President
George W. Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair,
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Pope Benedict
XVI.
The secret talks with Barzani, which were followed
by a private Turkish airline company starting
chartered flights to Kurdistan (northern Iraq) with
authorization from the Foreign Ministry, sparked
comments that Ankara's policy towards Iraq and the
Iraqi Kurds, marked mostly by mistrust, was
changing.
Turkish officials say there is no change as such in
Turkey's Iraq policy and explain that Ankara's
concerns over the disintegration of Iraq have been
warmly received in the international arena,
particularly because all the actors involved have
begun to see that a split of Iraq into pieces would
upset regional balances.
Barzani, who is President of Kurdistan (Kurdish
autonomous region in the north of Iraq), said he had
told Taner he was ready to support a peaceful
solution to the Kurdish problem.
Talks between the KDP delegation and Turkish
officials were expected to center on the protection
of Iraq's integrity, a possible visit by Barzani to
Ankara and the fight against the outlawed Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK) in northern Iraq, NTV
television said.
The PKK has been blacklisted as a terrorist group by
the European Union and the United States as well as
by Turkey.
www.turkishdailynews.com.tr
Top |
® 