Turkey extended a regional peace drive to Iraqi Kurds when Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu met with top Kurdish officials in a landmark visit to Erbil.

“It is time for Arabs, Turks, Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis to rebuild the Middle East. Therefore, it is time for everyone to take brave steps,” Davutoğlu told a joint press conference with Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani late on Friday. Barzani praised Davutoğlu’s visit, saying it is even more significant now as the Middle East is passing through such a sensitive time. Davutoğlu’s visit to Erbil, the first by a Turkish foreign minister, is a sign that a taboo maintained in Turkish foreign policy until recently is no longer in place.

Acknowledging the very existence of the Kurdish administration, which has enjoyed de facto autonomy from Baghdad since 1991, had been taboo among Turkish politicians. It was only last year when Davutoğlu, then the chief foreign policy advisor to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and then Turkey’s special envoy to Iraq, Murat Özçelik, had public talks with senior Kurdish official Nechirvan Barzani in Baghdad, breaking a lengthy period of no-dialogue over tensions due to the presence of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the mountains of northern Iraq. Previously, Turkish officials refused to talk to Iraqi Kurdish leaders, and Kurdish officials harshly criticized Turkey on every occasion of cross-border operations inside northern Iraq against PKK targets by the Turkish military.

But the atmosphere in Erbil on Friday was far from tense. “We felt at home here,” Davutoğlu told reporters, reiterating once again that Turkey was soon to open a consulate in Erbil. “Barzani’s friendship with Turkey goes back a long time,” he added, praising Barzani as a “foresighted leader.”

“The role of Turkey is very important for the future of the region and the development of economic relations,” Barzani said.

The foreign minister also said Ankara and the Iraqi Kurds were seeing eye-to-eye on how the future of the Middle East should be shaped. “We have a common vision, and this vision is about the way we look at the Middle East,” he said. This vision, he said, allows a shared stance on security, political dialogue among regional actors and the peaceful coexistence of ethnic and religious groups. “Let’s rebuild the entire region. Let people travel from Basra [in southern Iraq] to Edirne [in northwestern Turkey] without any security concerns.”

The government, since it first came to power in 2002, has pursued a policy of “zero problems with neighbors.” It recently scrapped visa requirements with Syria, agreed to open two more border gates with Iraq and announced an agreement with Iran to jointly explore gas in the Southern Pars fields. It also signed a protocol with Armenia to restore relations, suspended since 1993.

Davutoğlu, who visited Basra earlier in the day and inaugurated a Turkish consulate there, said the deepening friendship with Iraq will help both countries. “Turkey is becoming Iraq’s door to Europe, and Iraq is becoming Turkey’s door to the Gulf region,” he said. “Let’s not allow anyone to harm this brotherhood.”

Turkey and Iraq signed 48 agreements on strategic cooperation earlier this month in Baghdad,. Davutoğlu’s visit to Iraq on Friday was a follow-up to the signing of these agreements, with Davutoğlu and Foreign Trade Minister Zafer Çağlayan, who accompanied him, exploring possibilities on the implementation of the deals.

“The security and well-being of Iraq, which we see as a model for the Middle East, are very important for Turkey. Any threat directed against the security of Iraq is a threat directed at us,” Davutoğlu said, emphasizing that Turkey and Iraq could very easily defeat the threat of terrorism, which targets both countries. “The mountains will not separate us, they will unite us. Then the Middle East region will be one of the top centers of attraction in the world.”

Barzani gives full support to Kurdish initiative

Barzani praised Ankara’s steps to address Turkey’s decades-old Kurdish issue and called for an end to violence. The government recently launched an initiative that is expected to expand freedoms for Turkey’s Kurds.

The reforms, which include easing restrictions on Kurdish language and culture, are important for advancing the country’s application for membership in the European Union, which wants Ankara to meet the bloc’s human rights standards.

“I want to congratulate the prime minister for policies and steps taken for a democratic opening. We support all the steps taken,” Barzani said. “God willing, the violence will end as soon as possible, and Turkish and Kurdish youths will shed no more blood,” he added.