ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Turkish defense ministry said on Thursday that Iraq is open to establishing a joint operations center with Ankara to fight the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a week after a high-level meeting with Iraqi officials.
A high-level Turkish delegation last week which included Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Defense Minister Yasar Guler, and National Intelligence Organization (MIT) head Ibrahim Kalin visited Baghdad, holding the second round of a top security meeting with their Iraqi counterparts. The first round was held in Ankara in December.
Brigadier General Zeki Akturk, the Turkish defense ministry’s advisor for media and public relations, told journalists during a presser in Ankara that Iraq and Turkey are prepared to sign a strategic framework document, in which Ankara seeks to establish a joint operations center.
“They are positively inclined towards our proposals for the Joint Operations Center and other cooperation efforts in combating terrorism,” said Akturk, adding that Iraq also views the PKK – a Kurdish group at war against Turkey for decades and based in the mountainous areas of the Kurdistan Region – as a threat.
A day following the meeting, Iraq announced that it had designated the PKK as a “banned organization.”
Iraq’s decision to ban the PKK came ahead of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s expected visit to the country in April. A joint statement between the two countries said they are working on making the rare trip “historic” and “successful” and that they hoped there will be a “qualitative shift” in bilateral ties.
A day after the ban, the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK), the umbrella organization for the PKK, said in a statement that the greatest threat to Iraq was Turkey and accused Erdogan of wanting to invade and occupy areas of Iraq, including Mosul and Kirkuk, in an attempt to revive the Ottoman Empire.
Turkish forces frequently cross the border southward into the Kurdistan Region, carrying out air raids and ground operations against the PKK. The Turkish army has established several military outposts in northern Duhok province and this summer it expects to complete a safe zone that Erdogan said would “permanently resolve” the PKK issue along the border.
Community Peacemaker Teams (CPT), a human rights organization that monitors Turkey’s operations in the Kurdistan Region, told Rudaw last month that Ankara conducted 1,548 attacks in the Region in 2023.
A high-level Turkish delegation last week which included Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Defense Minister Yasar Guler, and National Intelligence Organization (MIT) head Ibrahim Kalin visited Baghdad, holding the second round of a top security meeting with their Iraqi counterparts. The first round was held in Ankara in December.
Brigadier General Zeki Akturk, the Turkish defense ministry’s advisor for media and public relations, told journalists during a presser in Ankara that Iraq and Turkey are prepared to sign a strategic framework document, in which Ankara seeks to establish a joint operations center.
“They are positively inclined towards our proposals for the Joint Operations Center and other cooperation efforts in combating terrorism,” said Akturk, adding that Iraq also views the PKK – a Kurdish group at war against Turkey for decades and based in the mountainous areas of the Kurdistan Region – as a threat.
A day following the meeting, Iraq announced that it had designated the PKK as a “banned organization.”
Iraq’s decision to ban the PKK came ahead of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s expected visit to the country in April. A joint statement between the two countries said they are working on making the rare trip “historic” and “successful” and that they hoped there will be a “qualitative shift” in bilateral ties.
A day after the ban, the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK), the umbrella organization for the PKK, said in a statement that the greatest threat to Iraq was Turkey and accused Erdogan of wanting to invade and occupy areas of Iraq, including Mosul and Kirkuk, in an attempt to revive the Ottoman Empire.
Turkish forces frequently cross the border southward into the Kurdistan Region, carrying out air raids and ground operations against the PKK. The Turkish army has established several military outposts in northern Duhok province and this summer it expects to complete a safe zone that Erdogan said would “permanently resolve” the PKK issue along the border.
Community Peacemaker Teams (CPT), a human rights organization that monitors Turkey’s operations in the Kurdistan Region, told Rudaw last month that Ankara conducted 1,548 attacks in the Region in 2023.
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