Turkish Interior Minister in Tehran

Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu arrived in Tehran on Saturday to meet his counterpart, Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli.

The two ministers were to discuss cooperation on border security as well as the fight against terrorism and smuggling, Anadolu Agency cited a source in the Turkish ministry, who spoke on condition of anonymity, as saying on Friday. Turkey’s Gendarmerie Forces Commander General Arif Cetin and General Director of Security Selami Altinok are accompanying Soylu, the source added. Ankara and Tehran have recently promised to increase security cooperation in the border region and Turkey has announced plans to build a wall along its shared borders with Iran. Several armed Kurdish groups are active in the mountainous border region between Turkey and Iran.

In early November, eight Iranian border guards were killed in clashes with a group of militants in West Azarbaijan Province that borders both Iraq and Turkey.

Tehran and Ankara have also strengthened their military relations recently. The two sides opposed a secession vote held in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region in September.