Iraq Supports Establishing Joint Operations Center with Turkey to Pursue PKK
A Turkish official confirms that the Iraqi government considers the Kurdistan Workers' Party a threat to it
Ankara has proposed the establishment of a “Joint Operations Center” with Iraq to combat the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), while Baghdad responded “positively” during a meeting last week, according to a Turkish Defense Ministry official today Thursday, amid tensions between the two countries over Turkish military operations and Baghdad’s warning of resorting to the Security Council to defend its national sovereignty.
Turkish and Iraqi senior officials, including defense ministers, held talks in Baghdad last week to discuss security issues, including possible measures against Kurdish rebels, after Turkey warned that it would launch new military operations in the region.
The official told reporters about the PKK: “Iraq also considers it a threat to it. They responded positively to our proposal to establish a joint operations center and cooperate in the fight against terrorism.”
During last week’s meeting, the two sides also discussed preparations for an expected visit by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Baghdad, expected after Ramadan. The official said Ankara wants to include the joint operations center in a broader strategic document that Erdogan plans to sign during the visit.
The PKK, classified as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States, and the European Union, took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984. More than 40,000 people have been killed in the rebellion campaign.
The conflict remained long primarily concentrated in rural areas of southeastern Turkey, but is now more concentrated in the mountains of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region in northern Iraq.
Ankara has carried out cross-border military operations for years against militants, placing nearly half of the Syrian lands adjacent to Turkey and all adjacent Iraqi lands under Turkish army control or supervision.
Earlier this month, Khalid al-Yaqoubi, an advisor to the Iraqi Prime Minister for security affairs, entered into disputes with a Turkish military official over Turkish operations in the Kurdistan region after describing the Turkish army as an occupying force.
Turkey has many military bases in Iraqi Kurdistan, most notably the Bamerne base north of Dohuk city, which includes an airstrip. Since 2019, the Turkish army has conducted a series of cross-border operations in northern Iraq against the PKK, called “Claw.”
The Turkish government demands the conclusion of a security agreement with its Iraqi counterpart similar to the agreement concluded with Tehran to ward off the threat of Kurdish rebels. Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammad Shiaa al-Sudani has also repeatedly called for strengthening security cooperation with Turkey by securing borders through concluding a security agreement similar to that concluded with Iran, but that remains still far off, according to observers.
Iran succeeded in concluding a security agreement with Iraq to push away armed Iranian Kurdish militia from the border and end armed manifestations in the border strip after those areas were attacked by rockets launched by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.
