Printer-friendly VersionThe Globe- Erbil
Turkish senior official points to improvements in his government's relations with Iraqi Kurds.
On October 14, Iraqi Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barzani met with a Turkish delegation headed by Murad Ozcelik, chief of Iraqi affairs of the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The two sides exchanged opinions on reorganizing bilateral relations and solving issues between Turkey and Kurdistan Region.
Finding an absolute solution to the PKK issue was also a prime part of the discussions.
"We have opened a new page in relations on both sides," said Ozcelik in a press conference held after the Baghdad meeting. He also pointed out that the meeting was positive and they will do every thing for the success of the negotiations.
This is the first official meeting between Kurdistan Region and Turkey since June 2004 when President Massoud Barzani met with Osman Koruturk.
Ozcelik later met with Iraq's President Jalal Talabani. The Turkish official pointed out that he will visit Erbil in near future for a continuation of talks.
"We welcome this step as we have always said that the problems can be solved only through dialogues, not via military actions," said Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani in a press conference in Erbil on Tuesday.
On rumors that the KRG prime minister will visit Ankara or Turkey's president will visit Erbil, Prime Minister Barzani explained, "My visit to Turkey and all have been said were rumours by medias. Till now, we have not been informed officially about Abdullah Gul's or any other Turkish officials' visit to Kurdistan Region."
As an assurance to neighboring Turkey, Barzani stated that the KRG opposes any armed action from Kurdistan borders onto Turkey.
Along with this step in improved diplomatic relations was Turkish Parliament's decision last week to extend its permission for military operations outside Turkey for another year.
Earlier this month, Turkish lawmakers extended the authorization for the Turkish government for conducting military operations inside Kurdistan Region against the PKK. Last October 2007 following the PKK military attack on border military posts in Daglica in October 2007 killing dozens of Turkish soldiers the Turkish parliament authorized the army to cross-border operation for a year. Turkish troops entered Kurdistan borders last year but remained there only for a week mainly due to pressure from Kurdistan regional government.
Kurdish political observers look with importance at the current Turkish political developments in the area.
"The Turks study several aspects of their relation with the region. They are receiving authorization of military operations at the same time they want to hold dialogue," Farid Asasard, director of the Kurdistan Strategic Research Center, told the Globe. If dialogue is successful, Turkish military operations into Kurdistan Region will not happen again, he stated.
Head of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan office in Ankara, Bahroz Galali, stated that the current understanding between the region and Turkey interests both sides. Attempts have been ongoing for about a year to develop bilateral relations, Galali said.
In the event this "new page" of relations is successful, agreements are expected to be signed between the two sides, said Karkhi Najmaddin, chief of the Turkmen bloc in Kurdistan Region's Parliament. He expressed the Kurdistan Turkmens' support of Kurdistan Region's policies in the dialogue.