Barzani was in Ankara for a rare meeting with Foreign Minister Tansu Ciller and senior officials from her ministry. The talks, which focused on the future of northern Iraq, were also attended by representatives of northern Iraq's Turkmens, in whose well being Ankara is taking a special interest.
Turkey supports the territorial integrity of Iraq.
But a regional administration is on the agenda until the power vacuum in northern Iraq is ended. We told Barzani that he should cooperate with the Turkmens. She also indicated that Turkey's priority regarding Operation Provide Comfort, the US-lead allied force in Turkey which was set up to protect the nothern Iraqi Kurds, would be that this force also protect the Turkmens from attacks by Iraqi forces. Turkey also wants the KDP to remove militants of the PKK terrorist organization from the region. It was also decided that technical meetings regarding this issue will continue.