Masoud Barzani

After a recent visit to the Iraqi capital Baghdad, National Intelligence Organization (MİT) chief İbrahim Kalın has continued his engagements in the Kurdish regional government capital of Erbil, where discussions centered on bilateral relations and counterterrorism efforts.

A delegation from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) had meetings with the members of the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) in Erbil in northern Iraq on Sept. 5.

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Turkey and Iraq are planning to establish a new mechanism to provide an exchange of information for the struggle against the PKK, Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said on Jan. 20.

A Supreme Political Council was set up in Iraqi Kurdistan to address issues related to the recent independence referendum that angered the central government in Baghdad and neighboring countries. This was announced by DPA and TASS, referring to Kurdish Rudav Portal and Sky News - Arabia.

The Iraqi parliament on Sept. 27 asked Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to send troops to the Kurdish-held region of Kirkuk and take control of its oilfields, as the prime minister demanded that Kurdish administration "cancel" the outcome of the independence referendum.

"We never thought Barzani would make such a grave mistake. It appears we were wrong," Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan said on Sept. 26, referring to Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) leader Masoud Barzani's decision to hold a referendum on Sept. 25 on separating from Iraq, along the border with Turkey.

Turkey has asked the Ankara representative of Masoud Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), Omer Merani, to not return to Turkey, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on Sept. 26. 

"If the KDP's representative was here, we would ask him to leave the country. We have instead said 'Don't come back' because he is currently in Arbil," Çavuşoğlu said in a televised interview. 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has warned that all military and economic measures are on the table against the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), arguing that Masoud Barzani's decision to go ahead with the vote was "betrayal to Turkey."

Arbil has never been a threat to Ankara, and will remain to not be so, according to Nechirvan Barzani, prime mnister of the Kurdistan Regional Gvoernment (KRG) in northern Iraq.

People in Iraq’s autonomous region of Kurdistan are voting in an independence referendum, amid rising tensions and international opposition.

Polls opened at 05:00 GMT with balloting also taking place in the disputed areas between the northern city of Erbil and the capital Baghdad, as well as the oil-rich province of Kirkuk, which is ethnically mixed.