Security Summit Between Turkey and Iraq Dominated by Kurdish Rebels Issue
Officials from the Turkish military are holding talks with their Iraqi counterparts to discuss measures to enhance the security of civilians in border areas
A Turkish Defense Ministry official stated that senior Turkish officials will discuss security issues, particularly Turkish operations against the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Iraq, with their counterparts in Baghdad on Thursday amidst escalating Iraqi criticism of Turkish military violations targeting Iraqi national sovereignty.
Foreign Minister Hakan Çavuşoğlu, Defense Minister Yaşar Güler, and Intelligence Chief Hulusi Akar are scheduled to hold talks with their Iraqi counterparts in Baghdad in a “security summit” as Turkish airstrikes in Kurdistan continue, resulting in civilian casualties this week.
The official told reporters, “Turkish and Iraqi officials held a security summit in Ankara in December. Today, they will hold the second summit of its kind. They will discuss developing a common understanding of the war against terrorism.”
Ankara has intensified its cross-border operations against the PKK entrenched in mountainous areas in northern Iraq and has warned against further incursions into the region. The PKK, classified as a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States, and the European Union, took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984, resulting in more than 40,000 deaths.
The conflict has long been centered mainly in rural areas in southeastern Turkey, but it now focuses more on the mountains of the Kurdistan region, which enjoys semi-autonomy in northern Iraq, where PKK fighters are based. Iraq contends that the operations violate its sovereignty and has threatened to resort to the Security Council, but Ankara maintains it is protecting its borders.
The official also stated that Turkish military officials held talks with their Iraqi counterparts over the weekend to discuss “measures to enhance the security of civilians” in the area where Turkey is conducting operations.
Last week, Khalid Al-Yaqoubi, an advisor to the Iraqi Prime Minister’s Security Affairs Office, clashed with a Turkish military official over Turkish operations in Kurdistan after describing the Turkish army as an occupying force.
Turkey has numerous military bases in Iraqi Kurdistan, the most prominent being the Bamerni base north of Duhok, which includes an airstrip. Since 2019, the Turkish military has carried out a series of cross-border operations in northern Iraq against the PKK, dubbed “Claw.”
The Turkish government is demanding a security agreement with its Iraqi counterpart similar to the agreement Baghdad reached with Tehran to ward off the Kurdish rebels’ threat. Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi has repeatedly called for enhancing security cooperation with Turkey by securing the borders through a security agreement similar to the one with Iran, but that remains out of reach, according to observers.
Iran succeeded in reaching a security agreement with Iraq to ward off armed Iranian Kurdish opposition from the borders and end armed activities in the border strip after those areas came under missile attacks by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
