Iraqi Foreign Affairs Minister Zebari to visit Turkey this w

[Stillw8n]

Iraqi Foreign Affairs Minister Zebari to visit Turkey this week

10 October 2011, Monday / TODAY’S ZAMAN, İSTANBUL


Iraqi Foreign Affairs Minister Hoshyar Zebari will arrive in Turkey on Wednesday for a two-day official visit, Turkish officials said on Monday.

İstanbul is likely to be the venue for a bilateral meeting between Zebari and his Turkish counterpart, Ahmet Davutoğlu, the same officials said.

During the visit, Zebari may travel to the southern Anatolian province of Gaziantep to inaugurate his country’s consulate in the city, officials added.

In August, Zebari harshly criticized Turkey for its cross-border military operations targeting camps belong to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in northern Iraq, claiming that Turkey is violating Iraqi sovereignty.

His visit comes only days after Turkey’s Parliament passed a bill extending permission, as it has done several times since 2007, for the Turkish military to mount cross-border operations against members of the PKK in northern Iraq during the coming year. Turkish air and artillery operations against suspected PKK members in the Kandil Mountains have intensified since August. The strikes were ordered after a break of more than a year in retaliation for an increase in PKK attacks on security forces inside Turkey.



http://www.todayszaman.com/news-259470- ... -week.html