Iraqi Kurd PM in Turkey amid Baghdad friction

A senior Iraqi Kurdish politician is set to hold talks with top Turkish authorities to discuss ways to deepen economic relations and to jointly push the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) to drop its weapons, Hurriyet reports.

Prime Minister of the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (IFRG) Nechirvan Barzani was scheduled to arrive in Ankara late Wednesday, where he would meet President Abdullah Gül and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Thursday. 

The foreign ministry said this would be Barzani’s first trip abroad after his re-appointment as prime minister last month. Nechirvan Barzani is the nephew of Massoud Barzani, the president of the IKRG. 

The ministry said that aside from bilateral issues, the fight against terrorism would also be on the agenda.