The results of the Iraq trip of Minister of Foreign Affairs Hakan Fidan, Minister of National Defense Yaşar Güler and MİT President İbrahim Kalın were announced by the Turkish Foreign Ministry.
At the second Türkiye-Iraq Security Summit held in Iraq, the Iraqi government, Hashd al-Shaabi Commission and Iraqi Kurdish Regional Government were also represented on the Iraqi side of the table. The Security Summit, attended by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Iraq, Mr. Fuad Hussein, the Iraqi Minister of Defense, the Iraqi National Security Undersecretary, the Chairman of the Hashd al-Shaabi Commission, the Deputy Head of the Intelligence Organization and the KRG Minister of Internal Affairs, took place in Baghdad on 14 March 2024.
Iraq accepted joint fight against PKK for the first time
The joint declaration published at the end of the summit marked a first in terms of Türkiye’s fight against the PKK in Iraq. At the Security Summit in December, PKK was defined as a common threat for the first time. This time in Baghdad, PKK was defined as a “banned organization” by Iraq in the joint declaration published. At the end of the meeting, Türkiye and Iraq, together with its factions, talked about a joint fight against the PKK for the first time. Following this summit, where the PKK’s targeting of Türkiye using Iraqi territory was accepted by the Iraqi authorities, it was reported that the two countries would establish joint permanent committees in this context and the security and diplomacy bureaucracy would coordinate the work at the ministerial level.
Türkiye’s anti-terrorism operations in northern Iraq since 2008 were considered a violation of territorial integrity by the Iraqi government for a long time. The operations often caused the Iraqi side to give a diplomatic note to Türkiye and the Turkish Ambassador to be summoned to Iraqi Foreign Ministry.
The Turkish Armed Forces carried out its first operation against the PKK in Northern Iraq in 1984. After the Murat operation in 1998, Türkiye could not intervene in Northern Iraq until 2008, especially after 2003, when Iraq faced the American invasion. However, with the restoration of relations with the Iraqi Kurdish Regional Government, many camps and ammunition depots of the terrorist organization PKK were destroyed with the Operation Sun in 2008.
Operations “Claw” targeting Hakurk, Metina, Zap and Haftanin regions in the Kurdistan Regional Government of Northern Iraq have been continuing for five years now. The situation in which the Turkish Armed Forces’ operations against the PKK, which was the target of the Iraqi government until recently, andcaused a crisis between the two countries will now come to an end after the Security Summit held in Iraq. It seems that Turkish security and diplomatic leaders persuaded both the Iraqi government, the Kurdish administration and Shiite groups to act together against the PKK.
Erdogan to visit Baghdad after 12 years
The Iraqi side requested that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s expected visit to Iraq be mentioned in the final declaration of the second Security Summit held in Baghdad. This is interpreted as Baghdad attaching great importance to Erdogan’s expected visit and also wants to guarantee the visit. Erdoğan last paid an official visit to Iraq in 2012, when he was Prime Minister.
During his visit to Iraq, in addition to the fight against the terrorist organization PKK, Erdoğan is expected to discuss several headlines on economic cooperation, logistics and energy-related topics, including the reopening of the oil pipeline and the Development Road project that will pass through Türkiye and Iraq. The fact that the Russia-Ukraine war affects the economic-logistical routes of the whole world is of great concern to the region. While the Development Road project, which will pass through Iraq and is expected to be completed in 2029 and to generate an annual resource of 4 billion dollars for the Iraqi economy; meanwhile the project will also be able to be the complement of China’s One Belt One Road project and the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor.
Spectrum in Iraq requires wider cooperation
Both cooperation initiative regarding the figh against PKK in Iraq and Development Road Project requires a wider cooperation for Türkiye, that is to include Iran and Gulf countries’ investments for the road.
