German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday reiterated her support for Kurdistan Region’s constitutional rights, and urged Baghdad to return to talks with Erbil.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday reiterated her support for Kurdistan Region’s constitutional rights, and urged Baghdad to return to talks with Erbil.

Merkel also welcomed Erbil’s initiative to resolve disputes with Baghdad through peaceful talks and not military means. For that, she said, Germany is monitoring the situation between Erbil and Baghdad.

Barzani, in return, thanked Germany for its support for the Kurdistan Region. He also called on the EU, especially Germany, to pressure Baghdad on accepting Erbil’s initiative for dialogue within the framework of the Iraqi constitution.

The Kurdish premier, accompanied by a senior delegation, arrived in Germany on Sunday. He earlier on Monday held separate meetings with Sigmar Gabriel, the German Minister of Foreign Affairs.

He also discussed the latest political and security developments in Iraq and Kurdistan Region with the parliamentary committees for defence and foreign affairs.

The KRG’s decision to respect Iraqi court rulings concerning the vote on independence and its calls for peaceful talks with the Iraqi government are “good will” gestures of the Kurdistan government, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in a meeting with Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani in Berlin.

Merkel expressed Germany’s support for “the constitutional rights of the Kurdistan Region within the framework of Iraq,” a statement from the KRG read on Monday. “This shows the good will of the Kurdistan Region,” Merkel told the Kurdish delegation, the statement said.

“Chancellor Merkel hoped that every effort will be made to start talks between Erbil and Baghdad to solve the problems with Iraq and pointed to the fact that Germany is monitoring the situation,” it continued.

PM Barzani told the German chancellor that the KRG has always called for dialogue with Baghdad, but that it is the Iraqi government that has refused to enter such talks.

“It is necessary that countries who are friends, such as Germany, help Iraq and the Kurdistan Region so that they can start negotiation,” PM Barzani said at the meeting.