President Erdoğan meets KRG President Barzani

ANKARA

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan met Nechirvan Barzani, President of the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in the Turkish capital on Sept. 4. 

Barzani, accompanied by senior KRG officials, paid a visit to Turkey in a bid to discuss the relationship between Ankara and Erbil in the fields of economy, trade, security and other issues. He had a separate meeting with Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and other senior Turkish officials on Sept. 4. 

“Hosted President Nechirvan Barzani of KRG and his delegation. Discussed our relations, in particular the joint fight against PKK [outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party],” Çavuşoğlu said on Twitter. 

KRG leader came to Ankara only a few days after he met French President Emmanuel Macron whose ties with President Erdoğan have recently strained over Libya and the eastern Mediterranean.

Turkey strongly stood against the KRG’s attempt to declare independence from Iraq as a result of the September 2017 referendum. Although the majority of the KRG population voted in favor of independence, Erbil had to refrain from declaring the move due to a strong reaction from the international community, particularly from Ankara and Tehran.