BAGHDAD, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu Sunday arrived in Baghdad on an official visit to hold talks with Iraqi leaders over means to develop bilateral relations, an Iraqi Foreign Ministry source told Xinhua.

Cavusoglu and his delegation are expected to meet with Iraqi President Fuad Masoum, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and the Parliament Speaker Salim al-Jubouri to discuss bilateral relations as well as the security and political developments in Iraq and the Middle East region, the source said on condition of anonymity.

The Turkish FM visit came amid international and regional attempts to heal the rifts between Baghdad and the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan after months of tensions caused by controversial referendum on the independence of the Kurdistan region and the disputed areas on Sept. 25, 2017.

The visit also came a day after Abadi's meeting with the Kurdish regional Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani for the first time since the referendum.

The independence of Kurdistan is opposed not only by the Iraqi central government, but also by neighboring countries, especially Turkey, Iran and Syria, for fear that such independence would threaten their territorial integrity, as large Kurdish populations live in those countries.