PUK leader invited to Ankara to discuss latest regional developments. Ankara
also expected to invite Barzani to the capital
 

Jan 8, 2001
ILNUR CEVIK

Ankara - Turkish Daily News

Jalal Talabani, the leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) will meet Turkish
leaders on Tuesday to discuss the latest regional developments, government
sources told the Turkish Daily News.

This will be Talabani's second visit to Ankara where he will again meet with Prime
Minister Bulent Ecevit. He was here last July and received a red carpet treatment.
The PUK leader will also meet with Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Faruk Logoglu,
and military and intelligence officials during his two-day visit to the Turkish capital.

Turkish sources said Talabani was invited to Ankara for wide ranging consultations.
"We neglected Talabani for a long time. Now we feel the PUK is doing an excellent
job along with Mesoud Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in the struggle
against the terrorist PKK group in northern Iraq and deserves Turkey's support," the
sources said.

"We appreciate the fact that Talabani is under intensive pressure form Iraq and Iran
for his cooperation with Turkey and we feel we have to provide him with proper
support," the sources said.

The sources also said Barzani would be invited to Ankara for consultations.
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The Kurdistan Observer
www.kurdistanobserver.com