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Iraq, Turkey to raise security, financial ties after Erdogan visit

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said relations with Iraq were getting in a new stage after the neighbours accepted cooperate versus Kurdish militants, enhance financial ties via a. brand-new trade corridor and consider Iraq's requirements for access to. scarce water.

Erdogan remained in Iraq on a long-awaited see, the first. by a Turkish leader considering that 2011, following years of stretched. relations as Ankara increase cross-border operations against. PKK militants based in mountainous, mainly Kurdish northern. Iraq.

I shared my belief that the PKK's existence in Iraq will. end. We discussed the joint actions we can take versus the. terrorist organisation PKK and its extensions targeting Turkey,. Erdogan stated at a joint press conference with Iraqi Prime. Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani in Baghdad.

The 2 nations agreed to a strategic framework. arrangement managing security, trade and energy in addition to a. 10-year offer on the management of water resources that would. take Iraq's requirements into account, Sudani said.

Sudani said the 2 countries would cooperate to bolster. border security and act versus non-state armed groups that. could be dealing with terrorist organisations. He did not. discuss the PKK particularly.

An Iraqi government representative said PKK members were. welcome in Iraq so long as they did not participate in political. advocacy or bring weapons. He did not elaborate.

The PKK used up arms versus the Turkish state in 1984. and is designated a terrorist company by Ankara and its. Western allies. Turkey has actually conducted a series of cross-border. operations versus the group in northern Iraq given that 2019.

Ankara prepares a brand-new swoop on the militants this spring. and has actually looked for Iraqi cooperation, in the kind of a joint. operations room, in addition to recognition by Baghdad of the PKK. hazard.

Iraq should eradicate all sorts of fear, the Turkish. presidency said in a statement after Erdogan held talks with. Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid, the most senior Kurdish. official in Iraq.

Rashid stated Baghdad backed joint work to combat terrorism and. protested its area being utilized to attack any neighbours,. However Rashid opposed any attacks on its soil.

Iraq has in current months attempted to mitigate Turkey's. concerns about the PKK while pursuing its own agenda focused on. growing financial ties and increasing access to scarce water from. the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers that originate in Turkey, amid. growing dry spell in the house.

DEVELOPMENT ROAD

Iraq and Turkey signed more than 20 MOUs throughout. Erdogan's one-day go to on whatever from cultural and. farming cooperation to education and health, a declaration. from Sudani's office said.

Erdogan and Sudani also supervised the finalizing of a four-way. memorandum of understanding between Turkey, Iraq, Qatar and the. United Arab Emirates for joint cooperation on Iraq's $17 billion. Advancement Road job, with Qatari and Emirati ministers in. attendance.

Launched in 2015, the 1,200-km (745-mile) roadway and rail. job aims to turn Iraq into a transit hub, connecting Asia. and Europe with a link in between Iraq's Grand Faw Port in the. oil-rich south and Turkey in the north.

Turkey's bilateral trade with Iraq was worth $19.9 billion. in 2023, below $24.2 billion in 2022, main Turkish data. showed. In the first 3 months of 2024, Turkish exports to. Iraq rose by 24.5%, while imports fell by 46.2%.

After conferences in Baghdad, Erdogan was set to take a trip to. Erbil, the provincial capital of Iraq's semi-autonomous. Kurdistan region, for talks with Iraqi Kurdish officials.

(source: Reuters)