Turkey's President heads for Iran Following Iraqi Kurdish Referendum

Wed, Oct 4, 2017 | By publisher


Foreign

 

TURKISH President Recep Erdogan arrived in Tehran on Wednesday for high level talks with the Iranian leadership, coming just after residents of the Kurdish areas of northern Iraq voted for independence in a controversial referendum.

Turkey, Iran, Iraq and other regional powers are opposed to an independent Kurdish state in the northern Iraqi autonomous region.

Erdogan is set to meet his counterpart, Hassan Rowhani, and Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during his visit.

The Turkish president was accompanied on the trip by a number of high-ranking ministers. The two countries’ chiefs of staff already conducted security talks in Tehran in the lead-up to the meetings, a sign of warming ties in spite of some key differences on regional policy.

In addition to northern Iraq, the crisis in Syria is expected to be discussed. Turkey and Iran are both part of the Astana process to reduce violence in Syria, along with Russia. Ankara has backed rebel forces, while Tehran supports President Bashar al-Assad. NAN

 

– Oct.  4, 2017 @ 11:40 GMT |

 

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