HotNewsTurkey Staff
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Ekim 30, 2008 15:35
Iraqi Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani said Wednesday he wants to pay a visit to Turkey to hold talk with officials over the terror organization, PKK.
"I want to come to Ankara when the conditions are right," Barzani, the leader of regional Kurdish administration in northern Iraq, told hurriyet.com.tr when asked whether a visit to Turkey was being considered.
"We must work to stop the blood-shed together... It benefits no one," he also said when asked about sending a message regarding the PKK, which uses bases in northern Iraq as a springboard to launch cross-border attacks on neighboring Turkey.
Barzani, speaking at a reception held in his honor in Washington, also sent a message of friendship and peace to Turkey.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan has said Ankara was considering a proposal by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, himself a Kurd, for three-way talks with Baghdad and Washington to outline fresh measures to purge the PKK bases in northern Iraq.
Turkish officials say around 2,000 PKK terrorists are holed up in the mountains of northern Iraq, where they enjoy free movement and use the region to launch cross-border attacks.
Turkey, provided with intelligence by the United States, has stepped up its campaign to crackdown on the PKK both inside Turkey and in northern Iraq, after the terror organization increased its attacks on Turkish soldiers, as well as civilians.