The President of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), Nechirvan Barzani, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan met on Friday at the 3rd Antalya Diplomatic Forum. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan also took part in the meeting.

According to the KRI President's Office, they discussed trade and economic relations between Turkey, Iraq and the Kurdistan Region as well as the expansion of cooperation. There was also an exchange of views on the political and security situation in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, and the "terror threat" and other interests of both sides were also discussed, according to the report.

Barzani also met with Turkish Minister of National Defense Yaşar Güler on Saturday.

The lively diplomatic communication between Turkish state officials and the Barzanis in recent weeks has been accompanied by a military and intelligence escalation against the Kurdish freedom movement in northern Iraq and northern Syria. Turkey is killing civilians in both neighboring countries on a daily basis, such as the Yazidi chauffeur Sadun Mirza Ali in Shengal and the Kurdish doctor Sabri Toprak in Suşaymaniyah on Thursday. In northern Syria, three members of the Christian security authority Sutoro were killed in a drone attack on Wednesday.

The Antalya Diplomacy Forum (Antalya Diplomasi Forumu) is an international conference lasting several days under the patronage of Erdoğan. The forum was launched in 2020 by the then Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and is to be expanded into an international conference similar to the World Economic Forum or the Munich Security Conference.