Erdoğan meets with Mideast officials as diplomacy picks up pace

The foreign guests, who came to Konya on the occasion of Şeb-i Arus (Night of Reunion), were Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, Iraqi Parliament Speaker Osama bin Abdulaziz al-Nujaifi and Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was also expected to visit Konya but canceled due to his tight schedule.

It was reported days ago that Zarif would attend the ceremony planned for Şeb-i Arus, which commemorates the anniversary of the death of Sufi mystic and Islamic scholar Mevlana Jelaluddin Muhammad Rumi, in Konya. However, a senior Turkish diplomat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, noted that Zarif has informed the Turkish side that he cannot attend due to his heavy schedule.

The diplomat also added that Zarif and his Turkish counterpart, Ahmet Davutoğlu, will meet on Thursday in Pakistan, where they will attend the 16th ministerial council of the Developing Eight Countries (D-8) meeting.

This is the third time Mikati has visited Turkey this year. He was in Turkey in late January for talks with top Turkish officials on issues related to the Syrian crisis and paid a surprise visit to Ankara last month, where he met with his Turkish counterpart, Erdoğan, for talks on bilateral ties and, more importantly, on the latest developments in the Middle East, particularly the security situation in his country.

Nujaifi also visited Ankara with a delegation from the Iraqi parliament in mid-September to meet with President Abdullah Gül, his Turkish counterpart, Cemil Çiçek, and Davutoğlu amid strained ties between Turkey and Iraq.

With relations between Ankara and Arbil intensified due to energy deals, Barzani has also made several visits to Turkey in recent months to have talks over the economic and political relations between Turkey and the KRG.