Foreign Ministry, Turkey discuss facilitating the entry of Iraqis

BAGHDAD-INA

Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced Friday that it is holding talks with the Turkish side to facilitate granting entry visas to Iraqi citizens wishing to visit Turkey.

 A statement by the ministry, received by the Iraqi News Agency (INA), stated that "in the series of meetings conducted by the visiting delegation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Embassy of the Republic of Iraq in Ankara, the Undersecretary for Political Planning Affairs Dr. Saleh Hussein Ali Al-Tamimi met with the Undersecretary of the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs for Consular Affairs and Human Resources Yavuz Selim kiran, at the headquarters of the Turkish Foreign Ministry in Ankara.

 The statement added, "During the meeting, the progress of bilateral relations between the two countries was reviewed, and the two sides discussed the difficulties and consular problems facing the Iraqi community and the need for cooperation between the concerned authorities in both countries in order to overcome them and find legal ways to solve them."

 It continued, "The two sides also discussed the possibility of opening a general consulate in Samsun to serve the honorable Iraqi community there, within the plan set by the ministry to facilitate the provision of consular services to citizens, and to spare them the hassles and costs of travel."

 In a related context, the Undersecretary for Political Planning Affairs stressed the need to work to facilitate granting entry visas to Iraqi citizens wishing to visit Turkey.