President Abdullah Gül has said he plans to visit neighboring Iraq in a short time to show Turkey's support for the Iraqi people. Gül had a bilateral meeting with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani on Friday in New York on the sidelines of the 63rd session of the UN General Assembly.

During the assembly, Talabani reiterated an earlier invitation to Gül for paying a visit to Iraq, with Gül accepting this invitation, sources from President Gül's office told the Anatolia news agency.
The issue was raised on Saturday when Gül held a press conference at the Türkevi (Turkish House). "It's a visit which I desire very much to make. The prime minister went [to Iraq] a short time ago," Gül was quoted as saying by Anatolia when asked whether he had any plans for visiting Iraq. The president referred to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's official visit to Baghdad in July.

"I also want to go to Baghdad shortly at an appropriate time. A visit paid needs to be reciprocated," Gül continued, in apparent reference to Iraqi President Talabani's visit to Ankara in March of this year. "Iraq is Turkey's neighbor and is passing through a significant period of time. I would like to show my support to Iraq," he said, while describing his meeting with Talabani as "useful and precious."

Gül was also reminded of the fact that his meeting with Talabani came only hours after a Thursday air strike by the Turkish military on targets of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) based in northern Iraq.

"The struggle against the PKK is a separate thing. Turkey is launching targeted operations. All executives have seen Turkey's intention. Turkey's intention is not to destabilize Iraq. Our target is obvious. What is going on is isolated activity against a terrorist organization which is launching terrorist actions against Turkey via arms and explosives," Gül was quoted as saying by Anatolia. "These [Turkey's activities against the PKK] are not annoying anyone," he was also quoted as saying by the NTV news station.

Until last year, tensions between Ankara and Iraq were high due to Turkey's frustration over Iraq's perceived reluctance or inability to hunt down the PKK terrorists, who conduct hit-and-run attacks on Turkish targets from bases in northern Iraq. Things began to improve last year, following a visit by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who pledged to support Turkey in its efforts to fight terrorism. Talabani visited Ankara in March, taking the dialogue a step further.

Prime Minister Erdoğan in July became the first senior Turkish leader to visit neighboring Iraq since the US-led war in 2003, pledging to deepen cooperation with the country in all areas after years of tension in relations.

‘Armenia border could be opened’

During the same press conference, Gül also said bilateral cooperation with Armenia in various fields was possible as long as a healthy dialogue with this country is maintained. "Would border gates be closed if we didn't have any problem?" Gül asked, when he was asked under which conditions Turkey would agree to open border gates with Armenia.

"We do not have full diplomatic relations and cooperation. Why not? Because we have problems, and that's why border gates are closed. The aim of this visit and meetings is launching a meeting and dialogue process which will remove these problems. If these problems are removed, then all kinds of cooperation happen, borders can be opened and relations cane be fully established. Other things can also be done. A much wider economic solidarity may emerge," Gül said, in an apparent reference to his visit to Yerevan on Sept. 6 at the invitation of Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan to watch a World Cup qualifying match between the Turkish and Armenian national teams, as well as to a trilateral meeting between foreign ministers of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkey which took place in New York on Friday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

The three ministers agreed to continue talks "for a better political dialogue and a better understanding," Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan said after the meeting with Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian and Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov. Babacan said they began talks on "specific regional matters" but did not elaborate.

Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 in protest of Armenian occupation of a chunk of Azerbaijani territory over a dispute on Nagorno-Karabakh. Ankara is now seeking to include Armenia in a regional cooperation platform that is planned to also include Azerbaijan, Turkey, Russia and Georgia. Nalbandian backed Turkey's regional cooperation proposal and Mammad-yarov said regional problems must be resolved in appropriate ways.

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