The meeting between Erdogan and Masoud Barzani, president of the Kurdish Regional Government, was trailed by Erdogan’s spokesman Ibrahim Kalin on Wednesday.

“We have a lot to talk about,” he said. “Iraq is important for us in all terms -- economically, in terms of border security and in humanitarian and cultural terms.”

He went on to cite similar approaches to tackling ISIL and PKK extremism as ways the two territories could work together.

The Foreign Ministry official was speaking on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to the media.