Iraqi Kurdistan president Nechirvan Barzani arrives in Turkey
Iraqi Kurdistan PM Nechirvan Barzani (L) shakes hands with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Istanbul April 28, 2017. Photo: AA
ISTANBUL,— Iraqi Kurdistan region president Nechirvan Barzani arrived in Istanbul on Friday in his first overseas visit since inauguration to bolster economic ties, where he will meet with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said late on Thursday that he would receive Barzani on Friday, calling him “a special guest.”
He suggested focus would be economic relations, as Barzani is being accompanied by a group of businessmen.
“I will have a special guest tomorrow. Nechirvan [Barzani] has not come for a long time. After becoming president [of Kurdistan Region] he requested an appointment and we set tomorrow for the appointment. He will visit me. Later, I will give a speech to his businessmen,” said Erdogan during a panel interview broadcast across Turkish TV and social media networks in Istanbul late on Thursday.
It is known that Kurdistan’s ruling Barzani clan has close ties with Ankara.
This is Nechirvan Barzani’s first overseas visit since his inauguration as President of Iraqi Kurdistan on June 10, though he visited Baghdad on Thursday seeking to mend fractious Erbil-Baghdad relations.
His last visit to Turkey was in July 2018 when he attended Erdogan’s presidential inauguration.
Barzani’s has visited Turkey in April 2017. The diplomatic relations hit a low point, following the controversial Kurdistan region’s independence referendum in October 2017, which Turkey opposed.
Iraq-Turkey trade volume currently stands at around $10 billion. Turkish officials have repeatedly said they aspire to double trade volume.
Trade between the two countries predominantly makes its way through the Kurdistan Region’s Ibrahim Khalil border crossing.
Turkey and Kurdistan Region economic relations have flourished in a period of political detente between the two.
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