Diyarbakir is ready for the historic visit

Diyarbakir is ready for the visits of Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government President Massoud Barzani and Kurdish singer in exile Shivan Perwer, upon Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s invitation.
Demonstrators hold Kurdish flags and flags with portraits of the jailed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan during a gathering to celebrate Newroz in the southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir March 21, 2013. Ocalan ordered his fighters on Thursday to cease fire and withdraw from Turkish soil as a step to ending a conflict that has killed 40,000 people, riven the country and battered its economy. Hundreds of thousands of Kurds, gathered in the regional centre of Diyarbakir, cheered and wav
Demonstrators hold Kurdish flags and flags with portraits of the jailed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan during a gathering to celebrate Newroz in the southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir, March 21, 2013. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will visit the city on Nov. 16 to meet with Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government President Massoud Barzani and Kurdish singer Shivan Perwer. - REUTERS/Umit Bektas
tulin_daloglu_color.jpg
Tulin Daloglu

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Nov. 13 that his meeting with Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) President Massoud Barzani in Diyarbakir this weekend will be “historic.”

Indeed, it is going to mark the first visit of Barzani to Diyarbakir — the hotbed of Kurdish nationalism in Turkey — as president of the KRG. It also will be Shivan Perwer’s first visit to his hometown after 37 years in exile in Germany.

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