During their meeting in Washington Wednesday, Rice and the head of the Iraqi Kurdistan regional parliament mainly focused on relations between Turkey and Iraq.

Ankara is concerned at the lack of action from both the US, which has forces in the region, and Iraqi Kurds in combating the PKK and eliminating their bases in Northern Iraq.

An Iraqi Kurdish official speaking to NTV said, “In the Rice and Barzani meeting both sides underlined the importance of responding to the PKK”.