Turkey and Iraq agree to fight together against the PKK

Turkey and Iraq signed an agreement on military, security and counter-terrorism cooperation. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan made the announcement Thursday after two days of high-level talks, AFP reported.

According to the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, one joint base is already being established in Baghdad and another in the town of Bashika, near Mosul in northern Iraq.

Announcing the signing of the agreement, Fidan praised Iraq’s growing understanding of Turkey’s view of the PKK. His Iraqi counterpart, Fuad Hussein, announced after the meeting that Baghdad had decided to add the PKK to the list of banned parties. The presence of the PKK in northern Iraq “is a threat to Kurdistan and other cities in Iraq. It is also a threat to Iraqi society,” Hussein said.

Turkey considers the PKK to be a terrorist group and is carrying out many operations against its fighters on the border as well as in the northern mountains of Iraq. Baghdad says the operations go against its sovereignty, but Ankara insists they are necessary to protect it. Relations between the two countries began to improve last year and after the visit of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan to Baghdad in April, Reuters wrote.

The United States and most Western countries also believe that the PKK is a terrorist, writes AFP.