Turkish FM to visit Baghdad on Sunday

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkey’s foreign minister will visit Baghdad on Sunday to meet with his Iraqi counterpart and Iraq’s prime minister, according to the Iraqi deputy foreign minister.

“[On] Sunday, Hakan Fidan, Turkey’s foreign minister, will arrive in Baghdad to meet Mohammed Shia’ Sudani, Iraq’s prime minister, and Dr. Fuad Hussein, Iraq’s foreign minister,” Deputy Minister Shorish Khalid told Rudaw’s Zana Kayani on Saturday.

Fidan and Hussein will hold a joint press conference after their meeting.

Fidan will not be visiting the Kurdistan Region, according to Khalid.

On the agenda will be the recent developments in Syria, Israel’s regional military activity, and Turkey’s war against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), according to Anadolu Agency.

Founded in 1978, the PKK initially called for the establishment of an independent Kurdistan but now calls for autonomy. The group is designated a terrorist organization by Turkey. It has bases in the Kurdistan Region’s mountains.

Under pressure from Ankara, Baghdad banned the PKK last year.

Turkey began intensifying its decades-long war against the PKK in Duhok province last summer, looking to secure the border region. On Friday morning, two Iraqi border guards were killed in an altercation. Baghdad blamed the PKK, but the PKK said they were killed by Turkey.