Turkish president meets intel chief at Istanbul residence

ISTANBUL – Doğan News Agency

AFP photo

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has held a closed-door meeting with Turkish National Intelligence Organization (MİT) chief Hakan Fidan in Istanbul amid an upsurge in violence in the country, with 18 Turkish workers still captive in Baghdad.

Erdoğan welcomed the intelligence chief to the presidential residence in Istanbul’s Tarabya neighborhood at 3:30 p.m. on Sept. 5, with no further details available on their two-hour meeting.

The meeting came less than a week after 18 Turkish workers were abducted in the Iraqi capital, an incident confirmed by Prime Ministry and Foreign Ministry sources.

Meanwhile, clashes between Turkish security forces and outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants continue to claim lives from both sides. These clashes brought an end to the resolution process which had been launched to end the Kurdish problem.