Kurdistan President Barzani meets Turkish PM Yildirim

ANKARA, Turkey (Kurdistan24) - Kurdistan Region's President Masoud Barzani met with Turkey's Prime Minister Binali Yildirim in Ankara on Monday to discuss bilateral ties.

The dinner meeting also joined by delegations from the two sides in the Cankaya Palace lasted for about an hour and a half, said Kurdistan24 Bureau in Ankara.

Kurdistan's Presidential Chief of Staff Fouad Hussein told reporters that the two central topics of the meeting were the fight against the Islamic State (IS) and the issue of the imprisoned Kurdish politicians in Turkey.

As was the case with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Barzani also demanded from Yildirim the release of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party Co-leader Selahattin Demirtas and a dozen other lawmakers imprisoned since November 2016.

Independence of the Kurdistan Region from Iraq was not on the table, said Hussein, relayed a Kurdistan24 reporter following the delegations' visit since Saturday.

According to the Kurdistan Presidency website, economic relations between the two sides were also discussed.

There was an "expected" visit to Turkey by a Kurdish delegation to review the commercial ties, although no further information regarding the timing and content of the meetings was available.

Earlier in the day, Barzani sat down with the veteran Kurdish politician Ahmet Turk and Mayor of the city of Agri Sirri Sakik to talk about intra-Kurdish relations and the ongoing Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)-Turkey conflict.

During Barzani's visit to Turkey, the flag of Kurdistan was for the first time raised at the Ataturk and Esenboga airports in Istanbul and Ankara respectively.

Editing by Ava Homa