Erdogan meets with intelligence head to discuss anti-terrorism measures

Before leaving for Syria yesterday for an official visit focused on joint efforts against the terrorist PKK, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had an unscheduled meeting with National Intelligence Organization (MIT) head Hakan Fidan at National Police headquarters in Ankara. During the meeting, recent developments in the fight against the terrorist PKK were reportedly discussed. National Police Department head Oguz Kagan Koksal also told Fidan of his and Interior Minister Besir Atalay's contacts in the southeastern Anatolia provinces of Hakkari, Van, and Sirnak. Turkey recently intensified its efforts to end the terrorist PKK's armed activities in the region, and to put an end to its presence in northern Iraq, from where the group launches armed attacks against Turkey. Top Turkish security officials have also lately engaged in hectic diplomatic activity to win the support of neighboring countries and the northern Iraqi regional administration against the PKK. While Fidan had talks with his US counterpart towards this end, Atalay visited northern Iraq and met with Massoud Barzani, the head of the regional administration. Meeting in Damascus yesterday, Erdogan and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad pledged to boost joint efforts against the terrorist group, some of whose members are Syrian.