(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - A senior Iraqi legislator called on President of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region Massoud Barzani to avoid relying on Turkey as a trusted partner, warning that such an attitude will jeopardize the future of the Kurdistan region.
    
"The Iraqi Kurds' reliance on Turkey can jeopardize the political future of the Kurdistan region," said a member of alliance of Kurds at Iraq's parliament Hossein Ali, on Tuesday.

"All throughout the history, Turkey has and will never be a point of reliance for Iraqi Kurds," the lawmaker stated, and called on Barzani to review his ties with the Northern neighbor.

He said that Turkey is portraying itself as a friend of Kurds, while the Turkish parliament has frequently licensed Turkey's military incursion into Iraq's soil and occupation of Kurdish towns under the guise of war on of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Turkey's air force has repeatedly bombed suspected PKK targets since August last year.

The PKK took up arms in Kurdish-majority Southeastern Turkey in 1984, sparking a conflict that has claimed about 45,000 lives.

The remarks by Iraqi parliamentarian came days after Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan rejected charges he sought to inflame sectarian divisions in Iraq with recent criticism of its government and accused his Iraqi counterpart of trying to gain "prestige" in an escalating war of words between the neighbors.

Maliki, in turn, branded Turkey a "hostile state", and said Erdogan's remarks "represent another return to flagrant interference in Iraq's internal affairs".

Later in April, Barzani sided with Erdogan and in harsh remarks said he opposes the sale of F-16 warplanes to Iraq while Maliki is premier, as he fears they would be used against the region.

"The F-16 must not reach the hand of this man," Barzani told reporters at his residence near the Kurdistan region's capital Arbil on Sunday, referring to Maliki.