Erdogan’s long-awaited visit is the first by a Turkish leader since 2011 and comes after years of strained relations as Ankara stepped up cross-border operations against mainly Kurdish PKK militants based in the mountains of northern Iraq.
“President Erdogan stated that Turkey had expectations from Iraq in the battle against the PKK terrorist organization, that Iraq must eradicate all types of terrorism,” the Turkish presidency said in a statement after Erdogan’s talks with Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid. .
Rashid, the highest-ranking Kurdish official in Iraq, stated that Iraq supported working together to fight terrorism and was against its territory being used to attack any neighbor, the Iraqi presidency added. But Rashid also said Iraq opposed any attack on its territory.
Iraq has announced that Turkish operations violate its sovereignty and have 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 attack on the militants this spring and has sought Iraqi military cooperation, in the form of a joint operations room, as well as Baghdad’s recognition of the PKK threat.
Cooperation in large economic projects is also on the table.
Last year, Iraq launched a $17 billion Development Highway project, which seeks to turn the country into a transit hub, connecting Asia and Europe with a link between Iraq’s Grand Faw Port in the wealthy south in oil and Turkey in the north.
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 fresh water in drought-stricken Iraq.
Rashid told Erdogan that Iraq was entitled to a “fair share” of that water, the Iraqi presidency said.
Iraqi and Turkish officials say more than 20 memoranda of understanding will be signed during Erdogan’s one-day visit.
Bilateral trade amounted to $19.9 billion in 2023, up from $24.2 billion in 2022, according to official Turkish data. In the first three months of 2024, Turkish exports to Iraq increased by 24.5%, while imports fell by 46.2%.
Erdogan will meet Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani in Baghdad and then travel to Erbil, the provincial capital of the semi-autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan, for talks with Iraqi Kurdish officials.
The PKK took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984 and more than 40,000 people have died since then.
Since 2019, Turkey has carried out a series of cross-border operations in northern Iraq against the PKK, nicknamed “Claw.”