Turkish intelligence chief Hakan Fidan was in the Iraqi Kurdish capital Erbil (Hêwler) on the day a prominent Kurdish feminist theorist was killed in Sulaymaniyah province, Roj News reported.
The director of Turkey’s National Intelligence Service (MİT) reportedly had a meeting with the Iraqi Turkmen Front, backed by the Turkish government.
The Iraq Coordination Framework, an umbrella bloc of Iraqi Shiite parties, called for an investigation into Fidan’s visit on 4 October, which was made without the knowledge of the Iraqi government.
Early in the day, unknown assailants fatally wounded Nagihan Akarsel, who later lost her life in the hospital. Akarsel was working on establishing a Kurdish feminist centre in the province, and had been an advocate of women’s rights in the region with her work as an academic, theorist and journalist.
Security forces arrested several suspects near Hewlêr later in the same day, but no information has been released about the identity of the suspects yet.
Turki Cedan, a member of the Coordination Framework, said there should be “no such meetings with Turkey’s important security officials” without the approval of the Iraqi Central Government.
Cedan called for sensitivity for such security meetings, and said Fidan’s visit came at a time of political crisis in Iraq.
Fidan previously visited Baghdad on 11 September to meet with Hamis Hançer, chairman of the Sunni Sovereignty Alliance. He also met with the Iraqi president, prime minister and several KRI officials.
