President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan reiterated Ankara's determination to pursue its counterterrorism goals to ensure security, highlighting the importance of cooperation between Türkiye and Iraq during a phone call with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani on Tuesday.
Erdoğan noted that Ankara believes bilateral and regional cooperation will move forward in all fields soon, according to a statement by the Communications Directorate.
Stressing that Iraq's peace, stability and territorial integrity were equally important for Türkiye, the president reiterated the need to eliminate the terrorist group PKK from Iraq for the country's national security interests.
In its over 40-year terrorism campaign against Türkiye, the PKK — listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the U.S., and the EU — has been responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants.
The terrorist group maintains bases in northern Iraq and has used the territory for attacks on Türkiye, which has conducted many cross-border aerial and ground operations against the PKK over the past decades.
The Qandil Mountains in northern Iraq are the PKK's stronghold and the group is active in many nearby cities and towns. It occupies several villages in the region from where it launches attacks on Türkiye.
Ankara has long been stressing that it will not tolerate terrorist threats posed against its national security and has called on Iraqi officials to take the necessary steps to eliminate the terrorist group. Ankara previously warned that if the expected steps were not taken, it would not shy away from taking action against the threats.
