Turkish Top General Visits Iran

– Turkey's Chief of Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar traveled to Tehran on Sunday to hold discussions with his Iranian counterpart Major Gen. Mohammad Bagheri.

His visit comes before President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's visit to Tehran on Oct. 4 for a high level cooperation council meeting.

Talks are expected to focus on military implications of a recent independence referendum by Iraqi Kurds in northern Iraq and efforts to establish de-escalation zones in Syria, particularly in the rebel-held Idlib, where the guarantor powers Turkey, Iran and Russia will deploy soldiers as observers.

On Aug. 16, Iran's top soldier paid a visit to Ankara and became the first Iranian top soldier visiting the Turkish capital. The two chiefs of general staff discussed ways to fight terrorism as well as border security.

Turkey had announced that it had decided to erect a wall on the Iranian border to stop the infiltration of terrorists and smugglers. Erdoğan's Tehran meeting will concentrate on boosting bilateral cooperation in various fields like transportation, energy and trade as well as political and cultural issues. The two countries have also been discussing ways to fight against terror. - İstanbul