Turkish foreign minister visits Erbil for talks with Iraqi-Kurdish leaders

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu arrived in the capital of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region late on Sunday for talks with leaders.

Cavusoglu was greeted in Erbil by Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani of the Kurdish Regional Government, or KRG, which is allied with Turkey.

The Turkish foreign minister is in Iraq on a two-day visit to discuss trade, border security and water resources.

Cavusoglu's visit to Iraq comes after US President Donald Trump declared that he is ending an exception on unilateral sanctions for several countries which import oil from Iran, including Turkey.

Earlier on in his trip, Cavusoglu met with Iraqi officials, including Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi, in Baghdad and Basra.

While in the Iraqi capital, Cavusoglu said that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is due to visit Iraq by the end of this year.

"President Erdogan will visit Iraq to hold the 4th High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council meeting toward end of this year," Cavusoglu said in a joint press conference with Iraqi counterpart Mohamed Ali al-Hakim.

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