Barzani pays historic visit to Turkey

The head of autonomous Kurdish government in northern Iraq, Masoud Barzani, arrived in Turkey early on Saturday starting a historic visit for talks with senior Turkish officials on several issues of common interest. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will receive the Kurdish leader in the southeastern province of Diyarbakir, where they will discuss the Syrian file, peace process with Kurdish rebels and oil export from the Kurdish region to Turkey, Anadolu News Agency said. This visit came after the Turkish Government said Kurdish militants attacked a convoy of military vehicles with rifles and a rocket-propelled grenade in southeast Turkey on Friday. There were no casualties, but it appeared to be one of the most serious breaches yet of an eight-month-old ceasefire between the two sides. The jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), Abdullah Ocalan, began talks with Turkish officials last year to halt a conflict that has left more than 40,000 people dead over the past three decades. He ordered his fighters in March to cease the fight.