Senior officials from Turkey and Iraq will hold high-level talks in Ankara on Thursday to boost cooperation on security issues, a Turkish diplomatic source told Reuters on Wednesday.
The two countries have been at odds in recent years over Ankara’s cross-border military operations against outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants based in a mountainous region of northern Iraq.
Iraq says the operations constitute a violation of its sovereignty, but Türkiye says they are necessary to protect itself.
Relations have improved since last year when the two sides agreed to hold high-level talks on security issues, and after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Baghdad in April where he said relations had entered a new phase.
The two countries have so far held three rounds of meetings under the dialogue mechanism, and Baghdad decided to classify the PKK as a “banned organization in Iraq” during the last talks held in March, a move welcomed by Ankara.
The Turkish source said Thursday’s meeting would be the first of a “joint planning group” that was set up during Erdogan’s visit and would be chaired by the foreign ministers.
The source added that the talks also aim to put the two countries’ cooperation in an institutional and sustainable framework, noting that the two delegations will discuss the implementation of 27 agreements signed during Erdogan’s visit, and will evaluate more joint initiatives.
Turkish Defence Minister Yasar Guler told Reuters on Monday that recent steps taken by Turkey and Iraq in the fight against terrorism represented a “turning point,” adding that technical work on setting up a joint operations centre for the region was continuing.
Guler also said that Turkish cross-border operations in northern Iraq would continue until “the name of terrorism is erased from this region,” adding that Ankara expected Baghdad to designate the PKK as a terrorist organization as soon as possible.
The PKK, which has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984, is designated a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. More than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict.
Source: Reuters
