ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The war against the Islamic State (ISIS), the battle for Mosul and economic and trade ties between Erbil and Ankara were the main topics of Kurdistan Region President Masoud Barzani’s meeting with his Turkish counterpart in Turkey, said a statement from the Kurdish presidency on Wednesday.
Barzani and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke Tuesday about broadening the relations between Erbil and Ankara, especially trade ties and the joint efforts to combat the threat of terrorism such as ISIS in Iraq and Syria which has recently changed its tactics of warfare.
The use of child suicide bombers in ISIS attacks were another point of the talks.
An attack on a wedding hall by a juvenile suicide bomber believed to have been 12 years old last week killed more than 50 people and police in Kirkuk caught and removed a suicide vest on an 11-year-old boy over the weekend who intended to blow it up inside a Shiite mosque.
On the second day of his visit Barzani is due to meet with the Turkish speaker of parliament.
According to the statement, Erdogan briefed Barzani on details of last month’s coup attempt and “thanked President Barzani and the people of Kurdistan for showing support to Turkey and its government during the coup.”
Barzani’s meeting with Erdogan was attended by Turkey’s energy and foreign ministers.
According to Safeen Dizayee, the Kurdistan Regional Government spokesman who accompanied the Kurdish president, Kurdistan's domestic political situation and the challenges facing the KRG were discussed in the meetings.
“The operation to liberate Mosul was also one of the important topics that were talked about.” Dizayee told Rudaw in Ankara.
Turkey is the Kurdistan Region’s biggest trade partner. Before the financial crisis annual trade between the two stood at $10 billion.
Dizayee said that both leaders raised the issue of some trade exchange deals that were signed between the Kurdistan Region and Turkey’s border provinces two years ago but have been little implemented. It was decided that they need to be activated and implemented.
The KRG spokesman said that the declining trade exchange on the main Ibrahim Khalil bridge that connects Turkey and Kurdistan was another topic. Dizayee thought that 2016 has seen a decrease in traffic on the bridge.
He said perhaps that was because some goods that came through that bridge in the past were destined for the area of Mosul – which has been under the Islamic State’s (ISIS) control for more than two years. He explained that the purchasing power of the Kurdistan Region also had declined, due to a severe economic crisis.
Dizayee revealed, meanwhile, that work is being done to finish a new bridge on the Habur river for more trade.
Following his meeting with Erdogan the Kurdish president met with Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim at Cankaya Palace where “they spoke about the necessity of bringing peace and stability to the region.”
Yildirim and Barzani also had a one-on-one meeting on the political changes in the region.
Barzani traveled to Turkey with his chief of staff Fuad Hussein and government spokesperson, Dizayee.
Barzani’s visit to Turkey came just days after Ankara and Moscow mended their ties and a visit by Iran’s foreign minister to the Turkish capital to seek a “political settlement for Syria” after five years of civil war in that country.
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