ANKARA, Aug 16 (AFP) - Iraqi President Ghazi al-Yawar arrived in Turkey on Monday for two days of talks on bilateral issues, including increased security measures for Turkish nationals working in the country, the Anatolia news agency reported.
Yawar was scheduled to meet Turkish counterpart Ahmet Necdet Sezer, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul before leaving on Tuesday.
The Iraqi president was accompanied by Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari and two other ministers.
Talks are expected to focus on increased security measures for Turkish truck drivers and workers following the killing of a truck driver by hostage-takers and the abduction of several truckers delivering goods to the US army in Iraq.
Turkish officials have already said they are working on a series of measures to ensure a safe working environment in the country, which was one of Ankara`s principal trade partners before the 1991 Gulf War.
Among the envisaged measures is a plan for Turkish drivers to ferry goods to areas between the northern towns of Zakhu and Mosul, which are considered relatively safe, where they would hand over the goods to Iraqi authorities for transfer to their ultimate destinations.
The Iraqi and Turkish delegations are also likely to discuss Ankara`s concerns over the future political make-up of Iraq.
Turkey keeps a wary eye on the country`s Kurdish population in the north whom it suspects of plotting to break away from Baghdad.
Turkey is worried that such a prospect could fan separatist sentiment among its own restive Kurdish population in its southeastern corner, adjacent to northern Iraq.
Turkish officials are also expected to seek Iraqi support against armed Turkish Kurdish rebels from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), recently renamed KONGRA-GEL, who are hiding in mountainous northern Iraq.
Thousands of PKK rebels withdrew into Iraq in 1999 after declaring a unilateral ceasefire in their campaign for self-rule in Turkey`s southeast, but are now believed to be entering Turkey after the group called off the truce in June.
Last year, Turkey and its key ally the United States signed an action plan, including military measures, to purge northern Iraq of PKK rebels, but Ankara has since been complaining over Washington`s reluctance to move against the militants.