Turkish and Iraqi Leaders to Tackle Kurdish Insurgency, Economic Ties at Bilateral Meeting

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is scheduled to visit Baghdad on Monday for a long-awaited bilateral summit with Iraq’s prime minister. The two leaders’ meeting is intended to center on boosting cooperation on security issues related to the Kurdish insurgency based in Iraq’s north.

Erdoğan, who last visited Iraq in 2011 while prime minister, has been vocal in pushing for greater collaboration between the two parties on combating the armed separatist movement led by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

The PKK, which is designated a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union, and the United States, has waged a guerilla war in the name of an independent Kurdistan since the 1980s.

Iraq has stopped short of fully designating the PKK as a terrorist group, but it did ban the organization in March of this year.

Under Erdoğan, Turkey has launched dozens of targeted military incursions against alleged PKK cells located in Iraqi territory, and while Baghdad has publicly condemned said actions as a violation of its sovereignty, in recent months, the Iraqi government’s rhetoric has shifted towards embracing a partnership.

Both countries’ governments released a joint statement in March calling the PKK a “security threat to both Turkey and Iraq.”

The longtime Turkish leader said earlier this year that he intends to order a large-scale operation against the PKK over the summer with the goal of eliminating the group “permanently.”

While security collaboration is expected to be at the forefront of the meeting, water supply concerns, reviving cross-border gas and oil exports, and other economic issues are also expected to be discussed.

Speaking to the press in Washington last week, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ Al Sudani said that Turkey and Iraq have “true interests with one another and common projects.”