Turkey spy chief in Tehran for talks on terror threats

ISTANBUL: Turkey’s spy chief Ibrahim Kalin has held talks in Tehran with his Iranian counterpart to discuss the fight against terror groups and the situation in Syria, state news agency Anadolu reported.

Kalin met with Iran’s Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib as well as security chief Ali Akbar Ahmadian, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, Anadolu reported late Saturday.

They discussed “the fight against terror organisations, especially the PKK and Daesh, common threats, the situation in Syria, the Gaza ceasefire and developments in the Palestinian issue,” it said, referring to the banned Kurdish militant group and using an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group.

The two countries were on opposite sides of Syria’s long-running civil war, with Turkey historically backing opponents of recently deposed strongman Bashar al-Assad, while Iran supported his rule.

Assad was deposed on December 8 and the leaders of Turkey and Iran held their first meeting in Cairo later that month.

Also Saturday, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan spoke by phone with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi, discussing bilateral issues and “the situation in Palestine”, Anadolu said, citing diplomatic sources.