The rival leaders of two Iraqi Kurdish groups agreed at the weekend to put aside differences in the face of Baghdad's challenges to a no-fly zone set up to protect a Kurdish enclave in northern Iraq.
Mr Massoud Barzani and Mr Jalal Talabani met in northern Iraq to discuss progress in a four-month-old US-brokered peace deal but also addressed recent tension between Iraq and the US, according to a joint statement issued in Ankara.
"In discussing the current situation in Kurdistan and Iraq, both sides agreed to unify their positions toward current events and developments," the statement said without elaborating.
Northern Iraq has been divided between forces loyal to Mr Barzani and Mr Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan since the mountainous region broke from Baghdad's control after the 1991 Gulf War. The US has tried to forge unity between the two groups to form a bulwark against the Iraqi government.
US-British air patrols of the nofly zone designed to protect the Kurdish enclave have twice clashed with Iraqi air defences recently, leading to expressions of concern from Mr Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party.
The northern air patrols cover the enclave as well as territory controlled by Baghdad. US planes have also exchanged fire with Iraqi forces over southern Iraq.
The Kurdish leaders pledged to consolidate "security in the region on the basis of general interest".
Farouk Choukri reports from Baghdad:
Iraq's parliament yesterday broadened the state's conflict with Washington and London by urging President Saddam Hussein to scrap UN resolutions "unjust to Iraq". The call came as Iraqi officials cast doubt on the continued recognition of a UN resolution demarcating the border with Kuwait.
The 250-member parliament "recommends the republic's president . . . not to recognise the unjust resolutions taken against Iraq," according to a statement issued at the end of a twoday extraordinary session in the Iraqi capital.
The French Foreign Minister, Mr Hubert Vedrine, said yesterday a new weapons monitoring group was needed to track down Iraq's attempts at re-building an arsenal of weapons of mass destruction. Mr Vedrine said in a radio interview the existing UNSCOM had been highly efficient "but there is a new situation and we cannot progress further. . . with the methods used by UNSCOM and by Mr [William] Butler [its director].