By Xinhua
Ankara : Iraqi President Jalal Talabani will pay a three-day working visit to Turkey on Friday upon an invitation by President Abdullah Gul, one week after Turkish troops withdrew from northern Iraq following an eight-day-long ground offensive against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), local private NTV reported on Thursday.
“Anti-terrorism will be on our agenda. We will surely analyze our level of cooperation with Talabani. This is one of our expectations,” NTV said, citing Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Cicek.
“Our problems with regard to the fight against the PKK will not be solved in a single visit of course,” noted Cicek, adding that they would continue to keep in touch with different segments of the Iraqi people in the north and south.
The PKK issue was not the sole agenda item with Talabani, said the report. There were other issues to be discussed during his visit, such as energy cooperation.
“The PKK problem should not tie our hands from cooperating in other fields. Many countries are opening consulates in northern Iraq. We can’t close our eyes to the opportunities stemming from Iraq just because we have the terror problem,” Cicek stressed.
Turkey’s top security board, in its last meeting two weeks ago, emphasized positive signs coming from Iraq, saying the two countries should seek to cooperate in almost all fields including energy, trade and culture.
Talabani, a Kurd, has long said he was interested in visiting Ankara, but Turkey’s former President Ahmet Necdet Sezer had refused to invite him despite strong economic and trade ties and due to Turkish concerns that Iraqi Kurds were supporting the PKK.
Talabani would be accompanied by a large delegation comprising ministers and other high-level officials, said the report.