Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 23
By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:
Turkey's National Intelligence Organization (MIT) will open a representative office in Arbil, the capital of Kurdish autonomy in northern Iraq, the Yeni Safak newspaper reported citing intelligence sources.
The aim of opening the representative office is to continue the "democratic settlement of the Kurdish problem", which was started in 2009.
Earlier, the Turkish ex-minister of transport, shipping and communications, Binali Yildirim, said Turkey has spent over $400 billion to combat terrorism from 1984 up until now.
The conflict between Turkey and the PKK, which demands the creation of an independent Kurdish state, has continued for over 25 years and claimed more than 40,000 lives.
The UN and the EU listed the PKK as a terrorist organization.
The process of the democratic settlement to the Kurdish problem in Turkey started in 2009.
Afterwards, some PKK militants left the country's territory and moved to neighboring Iraq.
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