SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Iraq’s foreign minister Fuad Hussein stressed the importance of respecting the sovereignty of Iraq during a meeting with Turkish defense minister Hulusi Akar on Friday.
Hussein met with Akar on the sidelines of the 58th Munich Security Conference in the southern German city of Munich on Friday, the Iraqi foreign ministry said in a statement.
The two ministers discussed friendship and cooperation between the two neighboring countries and ways to advance them, the statement read.
Hussein stressed the “importance of respecting the sovereignty of Iraq” during the meeting with Akar, according to the statement.
He noted “the belief in the principles of the Iraqi Constitution, which shows Iraq’s keenness to establish the best friendly relations with countries and to solve problems through dialogue and negotiations”.
He also stressed the importance of Iraq’s stability, which is “fundamental to the stability of the region”, the foreign ministry stated.
Akar, for his part, pointed to the “importance of joint security cooperation with Iraq”, saying that Turkey believes in “Iraq’s stability and sovereignty.”
Turkey intermittently carries out artillery and airstrikes against positions of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has bases in northern Iraq.
