Barzani visits Turkey to discuss Mosul offensive, detained Mardin mayor

Sevil Erkuş - ANKARA

AA photo

Iraqi Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani visited Turkey on Nov. 23 and held talks with turkey’s president, prime minister and foreign minister, during which he focused on the ongoing Mosul offensive and the detention of Ahmet Türk, the ousted mayor of Mardin. 
Barzani met Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım and Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu in Ankara on Nov. 23 and later held talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Istanbul.

The stalled peace process and bilateral political, security and economic relations were on his agenda, according to Kurdish officials speaking on condition of anonymity. 

KRG has concerns over the possibility that Sinjar could serve as a second headquarters for the PKK in northern Iraq. The Peshmerga forces were working to get the upper hand in the area. The region is home to around 4,000 Yazidis. 
Turkey previously vowed to take precautionary measures by deploying Turkish soldiers to prevent PKK militants from securing a base in Sinjar. 

Meanwhile, Türk from the Democratic Regions Party (DBP), a local affiliate of the Kurdish-issue focused Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), was detained on Nov. 21, four days after he was dismissed from his post as part of terrorist investigations charged for links with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The government in Ankara replaced him with Mardin Governor Mustafa Yaman. 

Türk, known as a dovish figure in Turkey’s Kurdish politics, has close ties with the Barzani family.