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Abdullah Gul meets with Barzani in Iraq

24 March 2009 11:52 (UTC +04:00)

Baghdad â€“APA. President of Turkey Abdullah Gul is on a visit to Iraq. On the first day of his visit, he met with Iraqi president Jalal Talabani and continued his meetings on Tuesday receiving the Turkman members of the Iraqi parliament. President Gul met on Tuesday with Necirvan Barzani, executive of the Kurdish regional administration in north of Iraq. Gul received Barzani at the Iraqi State Guest House in Baghdad. They discussed the relations between the regional administration and Turkey, as well as ways of solution of the PKK problem.
Barzani told journalists he held very important meeting with the Turkish president. â€œIt is very big step toward the strengthening of relations between the parties. We see Turkey as very important country and we intend to establish good relations with Turkey and we understand the Turkeyâ€™s concernsâ€.
Barzani said that according to the Iraqi Constitution, the regional administration couldnâ€™t attack the neighboring countries or allow others to do it. He said they supported Iraqi president Jalal Talabaniâ€™s address to PKK â€œto be disarmed or to leave Iraqâ€. â€œBut our relations with Turkey are not based only this problem. There are other issues uniting us. We donâ€™tâ€™ believe that PKK problem can be solved with force only, there should be other alternatives tooâ€, said Barzani.
He said the pardoning of PKK could be very important step and could assist the solution of the problem. He said they supported this idea.
President Guld ends his visit to Iraq on Tuesday. Gul is the first Turkish president visiting Iraq in the past 30 years.