Turkey’s Erdogan in Iraq aims at resetting ties, enhancing cooperation against PKK

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan began a rare visit to neighboring Iraq on Monday aiming to reset rocky bilateral ties with a raft of deals covering energy, trade and security cooperation against Kurdish PKK militants.

Erdogan’s long-awaited visit is the first by a Turkish leader since 2011 and follows years of strained relations as Ankara ramped up cross-border operations against PKK militants based in mountainous, mainly Kurdish northern Iraq.

“President Erdogan stated that Turkey had expectations from Iraq in the battle with the PKK terrorist organization, that Iraq must eradicate all sorts of terror,” the Turkish presidency said in a statement after talks between Erdogan and Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid.

Rashid – the most senior Kurdish official in Iraq – said Baghdad backed joint work to fight terrorism and was against its territory being used to attack any neighbors, the Iraqi presidency said. But Rashid also said Baghdad opposed any attacks on its territory.

Iraq has said Turkish military operations have violated its sovereignty and killed civilians. Ankara says it must protect itself against the PKK, which Turkey and its Western allies designate as a terrorist group.

Turkey plans a new swoop on the militants this spring and has sought Iraqi cooperation, in the form of a joint operations room, as well as recognition by Baghdad of the PKK threat.

Cooperation on big economic projects were also on the table.

Erdogan and Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani oversaw the signing of a four-way memorandum of understanding between Turkey, Iraq, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates for joint cooperation on Iraq’s $17 billion Development Road project, with Qatari and Emirati ministers in attendance.

Launched last year, the 1,200-km (745-mile) road and rail project aims to turn Iraq into a transit hub, connecting Asia and Europe with a link between Iraq’s Grand Faw Port in the oil-rich south and Turkey in the north.

Water

Baghdad is also seeking a deal to secure a larger share of water from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, both of which originate in Turkey and are the main source of freshwater in drought-stricken Iraq.

Rashid told Erdogan that Iraq was entitled to its “fair share” of that water, the Iraqi presidency said.

Iraqi and Turkish officials said more than 20 memorandums of understanding would be signed during Erdogan’s one-day visit.

Bilateral trade was worth $19.9 billion in 2023, down from $24.2 billion in 2022, according to official Turkish data. In the first three months of 2024, Turkish exports to Iraq rose by 24.5 percent, while imports fell by 46.2 percent.

After meetings in Baghdad, Erdogan was set to travel to Erbil, the provincial capital of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, for talks with Iraqi Kurdish officials.

The PKK took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984 and more than 40,000 people have been killed since then.

Since 2019, Turkey has conducted a series of cross-border operations in northern Iraq against the PKK dubbed “Claw.”