Erdogan tells Iraqi Kurdish PM that Turkey working to keep Syria secure

Turkey is working to ensure that Syria's transformation over the last month will not bring new instabilities to the region, President Tayyip Erdogan told the Iraqi Kurdish prime minister, Erdogan's office said on Tuesday.

Erdogan met Masrour Barzani, Prime Minister of neighbouring Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, in Ankara and the presidency published a photo of the pair shaking hands.

The visit comes as Turkey has repeatedly said there is no place in Syria's future for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and its extensions, after a rebellion last month ousted former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.

Erdogan repeated that message in the meeting and also "stated that Turkey attaches importance to the preservation of Iraq's stability and security, especially in light of the developments in Syria," the readout from his office said.

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Turkey has been calling for the YPG militia in northeast Syria to disband since Assad's fall. It regards YPG as an extension of the PKK, which is deemed a terrorist group by Ankara, Washington and the European Union.

The YPG spearheads the U.S.-allied Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the northeast and played a key role defeating Islamic State militants in 2014-2017. The group still guards Islamic State fighters in prison camps there.