Delegations from Türkiye and Iraq held talks on Sunday on the sidelines of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum in the eponymous Turkish city. It was the fifth meeting of the High-Level Security Mechanism of the two countries, focusing on the terrorism threat in particular. Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan joined his Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein at the meeting.
Iraq and Türkiye agreed upon strengthening military and security cooperation during the Iraqi prime minister’s visit to Türkiye in May 2019, and the first meeting of the mechanism was held in 2019 by the foreign, defense ministers and intelligence chiefs of the two neighboring countries.
Further meetings were delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and instability in Iraq before their revival in 2023 during Fidan’s visit to Baghdad. The second meeting of the mechanism was held in December 2023 in the capital Ankara, and in a joint declaration, the two sides, for the first time, defined the PKK terrorist group as a joint threat. Senior cadres of the PKK, which have killed thousands of people in Türkiye since the 1980s, are hiding out in the mountainous northern region of Iraq. Iraq has been a hotbed of PKK activity and Türkiye occasionally carries out cross-border operations against the group there. In 2024, Iraq declared the PKK a banned organization after the third meeting of the mechanism in Baghdad in May 2024.
Speaking after Sunday’s meeting, Fidan hailed Iraq’s classification of the PKK as a banned group. “Though it is technically a banned organization, it is treated the same as a terrorist group,” he said. He said the meeting was fruitful and a joint statement would be released later. Fidan added that both sides demonstrated sincerity and commitment in reviewing past security efforts.
Emphasizing that Türkiye and Iraq are closely monitoring regional developments, Fidan said they jointly evaluated current and potential security issues, especially in the fight against terrorism.
Fidan also said Türkiye shared its concerns about the Sinjar region during the meeting, and the Iraqi side expressed its own concerns. Sinjar is an Iraqi city where the PKK gained a foothold after the terrorist group Daesh was expelled from there in 2014.
PKK violence was initially raging in rural regions of southeastern Türkiye, but the terrorists have moved a large chunk of their operations to northern Iraq since 2019 after successive Turkish operations. Ankara maintains dozens of military bases there and regularly targets the PKK.
Türkiye's cross-border operations into northern Iraq have been a source of tension with its southeastern neighbor for years. Ankara wants Baghdad’s cooperation in eliminating the terrorist group “at its roots” and preventing the formation of a terror corridor along its borders.
Currently, Ankara pursues the “terror-free Türkiye” initiative, which was launched by a government ally last year. The initiative involved Abdullah Öcalan, the jailed leader of the terrorist group, calling on the PKK to lay down arms and dissolve. Following Öcalan’s call in February, Türkiye expects the group to hold a congress and announce a final response to Öcalan.
Last Thursday, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan hosted lawmakers from the People’s Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party). The meeting is regarded as another milestone in the initiative, as DEM Party lawmakers reportedly presented proposals for the future of the initiative. The DEM Party acted as an intermediary between the government, political parties and Öcalan, as lawmakers were the ones who conveyed Öcalan’s messages to the public.
