Representatives of Turkey officially met with Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani of the Kurdistan Regional Governmet of Iraq in Baghad on Thursday and thus started the long awaited dialiogue between Ankara and the Iraqi Kurds.

The Iraqi Kurdish administration said the fact that the dialogue had been started was a constructive step which the two sides will now build up on.

KRG External Affairs chief Falah Mustafa told The New Anatolian the two sides agreed on practical steps to be taken to normalize and expand relations.

The meeting was hosted by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani who is also a Kurd.

At first Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Chief Adviser Prof. Ahmet Davutoglu and Turkey's acting special coordinator for Iraq Murat Ozcelik met with Talabani and the Kurdish team led by Nechirvan Barzani. Also at the meeting were Dr. Barham Saleh, Iraq's deputy prime minister, and Hoshyar Zebari, the foreign minister of Iraq, who are both Kurds.

The meeting followed a working lucnheon and then the delegation from Ankara met separately with the Kurdish delegation.

Sides discussed practical steps to be taken against the PKK and peaceful solutions to the issue. They also discussed political, economic and special issues between Turkey and the KRG.

The KRG needs Turkey to export oil from the region. Turjkey needs the KRG to effectively combat the PKK led up in the bnortherbn Iraqi mountains. PKK militants infiltrate into Turkey from the region and attack Turkish targets.

Hours after the meeting Turkish jets carried out a a series of air raids against PKK targets in northern Iraq. The jets which flew out of the Diyarbakir air base attacked three major PKK camps in the early hours of Friday.

Turkey's relations with the Iraqi Kurds soured as Turkish officials charged the Kurds were sheltering the PKK.

Turkish troops conducted a major incursion across the border in February.

Later Iraqi President Talabani, who hosted the meeting, said he was pleased it had taken place. "The two delegations met and they discussed mutual relations between the two sides and studied the problems and anxiety which have coloured relations between them in the past," a statement from Talabani's office said.

"The two sides have found the necessary mechanism to overcome these problems and hurdles which hinders the development of the relationship between the two sides."

Talabani visited Turkey in early March in an effort to reduce tension between the two countries.