Türkiye to discuss 'common understanding' on security with Iraq

Senior Turkish officials will discuss security issues, particularly Turkey's operations against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Iraq, with their counterparts in Baghdad on Thursday, a Turkish defense ministry official said.

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Defense Minister Yasar Guler and intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin are set to hold talks with Iraqi counterparts in Baghdad at a "security summit."

"Turkish and Iraqi officials held a security summit in Ankara in December. Today, they'll hold the second such summit. They'll discuss developing a common understanding on the fight against terrorism," the defense ministry official told reporters.

Ankara has ramped up cross-border operations against the PKK, which is based in northern Iraq's mountainous regions, and warned of new incursions into the region.

Designated a terrorist group by Türkiye, the United States and the European Union, the PKK took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984. More than 40,000 people have been killed in the insurgency.

The conflict was long fought, mainly in rural areas of southeastern Türkiye, but is now primarily in the mountains of northern Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, where PKK militants are based.

Iraq has said the operations violate its sovereignty, but Ankara says it is protecting its borders.

The defense ministry official also said that officials from the Turkish army held talks with Iraqi counterparts over the weekend to discuss "measures to increase security of the civilians" in the region where Türkiye is conducting operations.

Türkiye has, since 2019, conducted a series of cross-border operations in northern Iraq against the PKK, dubbed "Claw."

(Cover: Turkish National Defense Minister Yasar Guler meets Iraqi President Abdullatif Jamal Rashid in Baghdad, Iraq, February 6, 2024. /CFP)