Turkey, Iraq will deepen cooperation against terrorism in region: Erdogan

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Turkey and neighboring Iraq will deepen their cooperation against terrorism in the region, after tensions between Ankara and Baghdad over Turkey’s airstrikes against purported positions of Kurdish militants in northern Iraq.    

The Turkish leader made the comment during a joint press conference with his Iraqi counterpart Barham Saleh in the Turkish capital Ankara on Thursday.

“We know the importance of working together to be successful in our fight against terror. God willing, in the future we will deepen our cooperation in this area,” Erdogan said at the presser, adding that an Iraq standing on its “two feet” was of crucial importance to regional security and stability.

He also stressed that there were threats to both countries from “terrorist organizations” such as Daesh, Kurdish militants and a group blamed by Ankara for a failed coup in Turkey in 2016.

Ankara alleges that the US-based opposition cleric Fethullah Gulen has masterminded and orchestrated the mid-2016 short-lived botched putsch against Erdogan and has branded his movement as the Fethullah Terrorist Organization (FETO). Ankara has arrested tens of thousands of people on charges of having links to the group. 

The Turkish president also said that Iraq had triumphed against Daesh with a heavy cost as thousands of Iraqi people, civilians and troops lost their lives during over three years of intense fight against terrorists. Furthermore, the terror group inflicted significant damage on the Arab country’s infrastructure and cultural heritage, he added.

“Turkey gave firm support to Iraq for that tough fight. We are ready to contribute to infrastructure and development projects in Iraq - reconstruction of places harmed by conflicts being the priority,” Erdogan stressed.

PressTV-Arab League condemns Turkish strikes in Iraq

The Arab League has condemned the repeated Turkish strikes in northern Iraq.

The Iraqi president, for his part, said his country "wants real cooperation and strategic partnership with Turkey,” adding that this cooperation would “serve not just the two countries but the whole region.”

“I am visiting brotherly country Turkey with the aim of cooperation in every field” as Iraq is about to “enter a new phase,” Saleh said, adding that Baghdad expected Ankara’s help in reconstructing militancy-infested regions of the Arab country.

He also stressed that relations with Turkey would be “shoulder to shoulder, in full solidarity.” 

Former Iraqi prime minister Haider al-Abadi declared the end of military operations against Daesh on December 9, 2017. On July 10 that year, he had formally declared victory over the terror group in Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city and the de facto capital of Daesh for some three years.

PressTV-Iraq summons Turkish envoy over latest airstrikes

The Iraqi Foreign Ministry has summoned the Turkish envoy to protest Ankara’s latest airstrikes against positions in northern Iraq.

Last month, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry summoned Turkey’s ambassador to Baghdad after Turkish warplanes launched airstrikes against the purported positions of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the Zap, Hakurk and Haftanin regions of northern Iraq.

Turkey, along with the European Union and the United States, has declared the PKK a terrorist group and banned it. The militant group has been seeking an autonomous Kurdish region since 1984.

Over the past few months, Turkish ground and air forces have also been carrying out operations against PKK positions in the country as well as in northern Iraq and neighboring Syria.

Baghdad says Turkey’s cross-border operations into northern parts of Iraq are being conducted without the official consent of the Iraqi government and has time and again expressed its strong protest.   

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