Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Hilmi Guler said on Tuesday that his country will carryout joint works with Iraq on the transfer of Iraqi natural gas to Europe via Turkey.

Guler and Iraqi Oil Minister Husayn al-Shahristani signed a memorandum of understanding envisioning cooperation in energy during the visit of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in Ankara.

Following the signing ceremony, Guler said the two countries discussed the Kirkuk-Yumurtalik oil pipeline, which runs in full capacity and without any interruption, adding that the Iraqi party promised to step up security measures on the pipeline which is under sabotage threat.

"We are planning to increase actual 400 kilowatt electricity transmission capacity (between Turkey and Iraq) by considering electricity need of Iraq," Guler said.

There would be cooperation regarding electricity production between the two countries and the establishment of thermal power plants both in Iraq and Turkey, he added.

The Turkish energy minister also revealed that Iraq would ask the Turkish Petroleum Corporation to tender in the oil and natural gas sectors in Iraq after the oil law is issued there.

In another development, Turkey has reached an agreement with Iraq to spend all efforts to end the presence of the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) in Iraq.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan made the remarks at a joint new conference with visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
 
Erdogan said bilateral matters and cooperation were discussed at the meetings and the two sides also exchanged views on security issues and political process in Iraq.

Hoping security to be restored in Iraq soon, Erdogan noted that Turkey once again underscored the importance it has been attaching to the territorial integrity and national unity of Iraq.

Tranquility, stability and prosperity of Iraq would also serve to the mutual interest of all its neighbors, he added.

The two leaders also talked about preparations for the 2nd foreign ministerial meeting of countries neighboring Iraq to beheld in Istanbul, according to Erdogan.

For his part, Maliki said that Turkey and Iraq were determined to overcome terrorism, adding Iraqi experts would come to Turkey in the upcoming days and determine the main features of the cooperation to be carried out on such matter.

Underscoring that Turkey and Iraq had a mutual agreement on fight against the PKK and other terrorist organizations, Maliki noted that the presence of the PKK and similar terrorist organizations in Iraq was not permitted now and would not be permitted from now on.

On the memorandum of understanding he signed with Erdogan, Maliki said they were determined to overcome terrorism together, because terrorism should not hinder the improvement of the cooperation between the two countries.

Ankara has been asking Washington and Baghdad to take concrete steps to crack down on the PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

The PKK has stepped up its attacks on government troops in southeastern Turkey in recent months, which had provoked Ankara to voice request to conduct a cross-border operation against the PKK strongholds in northern Iraq.

The PKK launched an armed campaign for an ethnic homeland in the mainly Kurdish southeastern Turkey in 1984, sparking decades of strife that has claimed more than 30,000 lives.

(Xinhua News Agency August 8, 2007)