MESOP : Massoud Barzani meets Turkish leaders in Ankara

16-7-2014 – Kurdpress – Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barzani visited Turkey yesterday and discussed latest regional developments and Erbil-Ankara ties with Turkish leaders.

Barzani was in Ankara for talks with Turkish President Abdullah Gul, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, amid the ongoing regional crisis due to growing jihadist activity. Barzani was also motivated to find a formula to receive revenues from the sale of the Kurdish region’s oil.

The hot topic of the talks with Barzani was Iraq’s ongoing political process, as the country struggles to form a new government, a Turkish official told the Hurriyet Daily News.

Despite the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham (ISIS) militants gaining ground north of Baghdad, the prospects for forming an urgent government to counter the militant offensive appear dim due to seemingly intractable differences over key appointments and other issues. Kurdish ministers have boycotted participation in the Iraqi government following Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s accusation that Kurds are harboring terrorist leaders in KRG capital Erbil. In an interview earlier this month, Barzani said Iraq’s Kurds would hold an independence referendum within months, adding that the time was right for a vote as Iraq was already effectively divided by ISIS’s actions in Iraq.  However, Turkey sticks to its earlier position on the issue of the maintenance of Iraq’s territorial integrity, a Turkish official told the Hurriyet Daily News prior to the July 14 meetings.