ANKARA, Turkey, Dec. 24 (UPI) -- Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki discussed the Kurdish PKK group during a meeting Wednesday with Turkish leaders in Ankara, officials said.
Six Iraqi ministers joined Maliki for his trip to Turkey and meetings with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul, Hurriyet reported.
"We should not allow terror organizations, in particular the PKK, to weaken our relations," Maliki told the Anatolian News Agency. "There is common will between the two countries to enhance the relations in several areas. That's what we are working for."
The two countries signed a strategic agreement during Erdogan's recent visit to Baghdad.
The PKK, the Turkish acronym for Kurdistan Workers Party, is a Kurdish nationalist group that uses violence as part of its strategy. The Turkish government has launched air strikes across the Iraqi border aimed at PKK hideouts in the Kurdish area of Iraq.
