Turkey calls for tougher action against PKK

ANKARA - Agence France-Presse

Iraqi Kurdish Regional leader Massoud Barzani (L) and Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu shake hands. AP photo

Turkey urged the leader of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region today for tougher action against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a Turkish diplomat told AFP.
 
"The issue of tougher action against the PKK was discussed ... during the meeting" between Masoud Barzani and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, said the diplomat who declined to be named.
 
The meeting also focused on developments in Iraq's domestic politics, said the diplomat, without providing any details.

PKK militants use their bases in northern Iraq as a springboard for attacks into Turkey's southeast.
 
The PKK is listed as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.
 
Barzani, who is on the second day of his visit to Turkey, met Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Istanbul a day ago.
 
Following that meeting, Erdoğan stoked further tensions with Iraq by accusing Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki of taking an "egocentric approach" in politics.
 
"The current [Iraqi] prime minister's treatment toward his coalition partners, his egocentric approach within Iraqi politics ... seriously concern Shiite groups, Mr Barzani and the Iraqiya group" -- the main Sunni-backed political bloc, Erdoğan said, as quoted by local media today.


Turkish-Iraqi ties have been marred by a political crisis that has stoked sectarian tensions in Iraq.