![Kurdish Foreign Minister Falah Mustafa [R] receives Turkey's new Consul Hakan Karacay in Erbil on December 16, 2017. Photo: Mustafa/Twitter account](https://www.rudaw.net/s3/rudaw.net/ContentFiles/348465Image1.jpg?version=2492962 "Kurdish Foreign Minister Falah Mustafa [R] receives Turkey's new Consul Hakan Karacay in Erbil on December 16, 2017. Photo: Mustafa/Twitter account")
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Kurdish Foreign Minister Falah Mustafa received Turkey’s new Consul General to Erbil on Saturday.
The Kurdistan Region is “looking forward to strengthening our bilateral cooperation with Turkey,” Mustafa said.
Mr. Hakan Karacay, Turkey’s Consul, stated that they want to further the bilateral relations and cooperation between the two sides, KRG’s foreign department said in a statement.
The relations between the Kurdistan Region and Turkey have suffered following the KRG’s referendum on independence on September 25 that saw nearly 93 percent of people choosing to leave Iraq. Turkey, which has a significant Kurdish population, among others, opposed the vote.
KRG’s Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani stated at least on two occasions that he wanted to visit Turkey both before and after the vote to explain Erbil’s position to Turkish officials, but that Ankara had refused.
He, however, crossed by land into Turkey and then traveled by air to France where he met with French President Emmanuel Macron to discuss the efforts to bring both Erbil and Baghdad to the table of negotiations.
Salahadin Bahadin, the head of the Kurdistan Islamic Party (KIU), who visited Turkey in late November to mend ties between Erbil and Ankara, said that progress was made after meeting with Turkish officials.
He met with senior Turkish officials including the country’s intelligence chief Hakan Fidan and deputy head of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), Mehdi Eker.
Turkey has a land border crossing with the Kurdistan Region that sees billions of dollars in trade exchange. The KRG’s oil exports are also exported through Turkey’s Ceyhan port to the international market.
Although Turkey strongly opposed the Kurdish vote, it did not close the border or stop oil exports as demanded by Iraq. It closed its airspace for international flights to and from the Kurdistan Region at the request of Baghdad.
Nasradin Sindi, the head of the KIU relations, said at the time that it was important for the KIU delegation to convey a message from Erbil that a “weakened” Kurdistan Region is not favorable for Turkey.
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