Turkish defense minister in Baghdad for security talks

ANKARA

The Turkish defense minister and the chief of general staff have left for Baghdad for an official visit to hold talks with their Iraqi counterparts over security concerns after PKK attacked the Turkish troops in northern Iraq.

Their visit follows National Intelligence Organization (MİT) chief İbrahim Kalın's trip to Baghdad and Erbil with the intention of increasing Turkish-Iraqi cooperation in combatting terrorism.

According to a written statement by the Defense Ministry, Defense Minister Yaşar Güler and Chief of General Staff Gen. Metin Gürak went to Iraq on Feb. 6 to hold talks with Iraqi authorities. It did not specify with whom they will meet and what will be the main issues on the agenda.

The PKK, designated as a terror organization by the United States and the European Union, has a significant presence in northern Iraq, from where they have been infiltrating into Türkiye to carry out terrorist attacks. More than 40,000 people have been killed as a result of the PKK attacks in the past four decades.

In recent attacks, the PKK killed 21 Turkish troops in northern Iraq, prompting Türkiye’s swift retaliation against the terrorist hideouts and other facilities in both Iraq and Syria.

Türkiye has also been calling on the Iraqi authorities to increase cooperation against the PKK, which has recently consolidated its influence in especially Suleymaniye and Sinjar provinces of the country.

The Turkish and Iraqi authorities held their first comprehensive security talks in mid-December last year in Ankara. The two sides have underlined their will to intensify security cooperation through a written statement at that time. After this meeting, Kalın paid visits to Baghdad and Erbil in January to intensify intelligence collaboration in the fight against terror.

The meetings conducted by Güler and Gürak will further deepen the earlier talks between the two countries, especially over the situation in Suleymaniye.

In a recent statement, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan urged the Iraqi authorities that Türkiye will not stay idle in case the PKK’s activities against Türkiye continue.