RFERL:

Turkey and Iran have voiced strong opposition to a referendum on Kurdish independence scheduled next month in neighboring Iraq during a rare visit to Ankara by Tehran's army chief of staff on August 16.

Turkish media said it was the first such visit since Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution.

"There have been no such visits between the two countries for a long time, but considering regional developments and security issues - border security and the fight against terrorism - there was a need for such a visit," Iranian General Mohammad Hossein Baqeri told Iranian state television upon his arrival in Ankara on August 15.

Baqeri said after talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan late on August 16 that they agreed the Kurdish independence referendum in Iraq could stir unrest in the entire region.

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