BAGHDAD
The Turkish prime minister's first visit to Baghdad was significant in terms of de-escalating tension, reviewing previous agreements and cooperating in combatting terrorism, a Kurdish lawmaker said on Wednesday.
The prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu paid a two-day official visit to Baghdad and to the Kurdish Regional Government at Erbil from November 20-21.
In Erbil, he met with his Iraqi counterpart Haidar al-Abadi and Masoud Barzani, the regional government's president.
Many issues, including previous cooperation agreements and intelligence colloboration on fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant were discussed during Davutoglu's visit, said Ala Talabani, a member of the Iraqi parliament from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan in an interview with The Anadolu Agency.
The visit, which also brought a large official delegation, was an indication of the interest and importance attributed by Turkey to Iraq, Ala said.
The lawmaker said that there had been 48 memoranda of understanding, which were signed in 2009 by then Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and then Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. He did not provide details of the agreements.
The Kurdish minister hailed Turkey's investments and projects in the regional government.
He also said Nechirvan Barzani, the prime minister of the Kurdish Regional Government, would pay a visit to Turkey to discuss trade, economic and energy issues.
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