Baghdad  - A Kurdish Autonomous Region official said he was hopeful that a landmark visit to Iraq by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan would end a phase of cold relations between Ankara, Baghdad and the Kurdish region, media reports said Friday.

"Erdogan's historic visit comes at the right time, heralding an end to a phase of cold relations over the past years between Baghdad, Arbil and Ankara," Parliamentary Speaker Adnan al-Mufti told the Voices of Iraq news agency.

The Kurdish region, with an autonomous government and parliament based in Arbil in northern Iraq, has been looking nervously at regular Turkish cross-border raids on positions of the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the rugged mountains of the region.

Iraq's Kurds have sympathy for Turkey's Kurds seeking self-rule in the country's predominantly Kurdish south-east. The conflict has claimed thousands of lives.

"We hope the visit can help solve standing problems between Turkey and Iraq," al-Mufti said.

The thorny cross-border issue of the separatist PKK was high on Erdogan's agenda during his visit to Baghdad.

Both countries agreed to set up a high-level committee to address strategic issues, including security.

But it is not clear whether the committee would also address the PKK issue.

Erdogan, however, made it clear that Turkish military action against PKK rebels received the backing of the Iraqi government and the Kurdish regional government.

Kirkuk is another thorny issue between Turkey and Iraq's Kurdish region.

Ankara backs the city's Turkish-speaking minority of Turkmens against a majority of Kurds seeking the integration of the multi- ethnic city into the Kurdish region.

Striking a note of optimism, al-Mufti said his region's ties with Anakara were "steadily improving." (dpa)