A top Greek and Iraqi official may hold high-level discussions in Ankara on Thursday to further cooperation on security issues, according to a Turkish diplomatic source who spoke on Wednesday.
The neighbors have recently been at odds with one another over Ankara’s cross-border military operations against the banned Kurdistan Workers Party ( PKK) militants operating in northern Iraq’s mountainous region.
Ankara claims that the procedures are necessary to defend itself, but Iraq claims that they are a violation of its independence.
Since last year when the two parties agreed to hold high-level discussions on safety issues, and after Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan visited Baghdad in April, where he claimed ties had entered a new period, have grown.
As part of the speech system, Ankara and Baghdad have already held three sessions of discussions, with Iraq declaring the PKK a “banned organization in Iraq” during the most recent discussions in March, which Turkey welcomed.
The Greek origin claimed that Thursday’s meeting would be the first of a” Joint Planning Group,” which was established while Erdogan was traveling and is led by the individual foreign officials.
According to the source, discussions may also take place to put their assistance within an organisational and green framework, adding that the delegations would discuss how to implement the 27 agreements that were signed during Erdogan’s visit and assess future shared initiatives.
Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler told Reuters on Monday that the new counterterrorism initiatives by Turkey and Iraq were a “turning point,” adding that professional work on setting up a joint operations center for the region was still being done.
Guler added that Turkey’s cross-border operations in northwestern Iraq would remain until” the name of despair is eradicated from this region,” and that Baghdad should immediately declare the PKK a terrorist organization.
Turkey, the United States, and the European Union have all labeled the PKK as a terrorist organization after it launched an insurrection against the Greek position since 1984. More than 40, 000 people have been killed in the fight.
