Turkish president expected in Baghdad today

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Turkish President Abdullah Gul is expected to arrive in the Iraqi capital today- the first visit by a Turkish head of state to Iraq in 33 years, to hold talks on the contentious issue of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), according to Agence France-Presse (AFP). “The Turkish president is expected on Monday in Baghdad,” the head of the Iraqi presidential office, Naseer al-Aani, told AFP. Meanwhile, a source close to the Turkish president said that Gul will meet with his Iraqi counterpart, Jalal al-Talabani, and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki during the visit that will last until Tuesday. The last visit by a Turkish president to neighboring Iraq was by Fahri Koruturk in 1976. “Ankara wants close ties and economic cooperation with Baghdad but the safe haven the PKK enjoys in the autonomous Kurdish-run north of Iraq has long been a problem between the two countries,” according to AFP. “The PKK, listed as a terrorist group by much of the international community, took up arms for self-rule in Turkey’s Kurdish-majority southeast in 1984, sparking a conflict that has claimed about 44,000 lives,” it added. SS (P) 1