Defense Minister Yaşar Güler said Türkiye and Iraq would set up a joint operations center to fight PKK terrorists, as Ankara reiterates its determination to clear terrorists off the country's southern borders with Iraq and Syria.
Speaking at an iftar gathering with the families of fallen soldiers in the Kahramanmaraş province, Güler said Türkiye expects to permanently solve security issues posed by the PKK terrorists and their offshoots.
Noting that his trip to Baghdad with Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and National Intelligence Organization (MIT) chief Ibrahim Kalın was positive, Güler said Türkiye has been fighting the PKK for the past four decades with no cooperation from Iraq.
He said that Iraqi governments have not even classified the PKK as a terrorist group, Güler said the talks were productive as Iraq ended up declaring the PKK as an outlawed group.
"Hopefully we will have more joint work with them from now on. We will establish a joint operations center," he said, adding that the local administration in Irbil viewed it positively.
Türkiye and Iraq will also establish commissions in the fields of energy, agriculture and more to further enhance cooperation, according to the defense minister.
Last week, Türkiye and Iraq agreed to establish a joint committee to work on counterterrorism during talks between their top officials in Baghdad.
The two countries are also gearing up for President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's visit to Baghdad after the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, further signifying a pivotal moment in bilateral relations.
PKK terrorists often hide out in northern Iraq to plot cross-border attacks in Türkiye.
In its more than 40-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the United States, Britain and the European Union – has been responsible for the deaths of more than 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.
The conflict was long fought mainly in rural areas of southeastern Türkiye but is now more focused on the mountains of northern Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, where PKK militants have their headquarters in Qandil. Türkiye has since 2019 conducted a series of cross-border operations in northern Iraq against the PKK, dubbed "Claw," the latest of which is the ongoing "Claw-Lock" launched in April 2022.
It was preceded by Operations Claw-Tiger and Claw-Eagle, launched in 2020 to root out terrorists hiding out in areas close to the Turkish border.
