Controversy continues to swirl after Iraqi Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barzani’s visit to Turkey ended yesterday. Turkish government spokesman Numan Kurtulmus denied reports that the Iraqi Kurdish leader had appealed to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a Feb. 25 meeting to free prominent Kurdish politician Selahatttin Demirtas and his fellow lawmakers in the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) from jail.

“These subjects did not come up,” Kurtulmus asserted. He said that regional peace, reviewing cooperation between Turkey and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the joint fight against terrorist organizations topped the agenda during Barzani’s meetings with Erdogan and Prime Minister Binali Yildirim.

But a senior Iraqi Kurdish official familiar with the substance of the meeting confirmed to Al-Monitor that the plight of Demirtas and his fellow HDP members of parliament was raised by Barzani with Erdogan. The official, who asked not to be identified by name because of the delicate nature of the subject, declined to elaborate.

Reports that Barzani had spoken to Erdogan on the HDP’s behalf were first reported by Rudaw, one of Iraqi Kurdistan’s biggest media outfits.