Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Chief of General Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar will pay separate visits to Iran in the coming days amid rising tension over the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) bid to hold an independence referendum on Sept. 25, Hürriyet Daily News reported.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani will preside over the Fifth Turkey-Iran High Level Strategic Council meeting that will be held in Tehran on Oct. 4.
"We will focus on Turkish-Iranian relationships and regional developments. The most sensitive one is [the developments] in Iraq and Syria. The fight against terror is also important,” Erdoğan said in a televised interview over the weekend.
Erdoğan announced that Turkey’s Chief of General Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar will also pay a visit to Iran prior to his scheduled trip on Oct. 4.
"This will be a return visit. As you know, the Iranian Chief of General Staff [Major General Mohammad] Bakiri had paid a visit to Turkey. Our chief of general staff will go to Iran before my visit to hold preliminary talks," Erdoğan said.
On Aug. 16, Iran’s top soldier paid a visit to Ankara and became the first Iranian top soldier visiting the Turkish capital.
