Iraq would like to hold a regional security conference in the coming months to resolve common problems in this area with Turkey, Iran and Syria, especially the situation around the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Sabhan al-Mulla, adviser to the Iraqi Prime Minister on political issues Jiyad said.
⠀
“The PKK problem is connected with Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Syria and even with the United States, since the United States has certain relations with the SDF (Kurdish formations of the Syrian Democratic Forces). Therefore, Iraq would like, perhaps in the coming months, to hold a regional conference on security to solve existing problems with Turkey, Iran or Syria,” he said.
⠀
Jiyad recalled that Iraq recently “recognized the PKK as a proscribed organization that should lay down its arms and withdraw its forces from the borders (with Turkey) until the problem is fully resolved.”
⠀
“The presence of Turkish armed forces on Iraqi territory worries our government. We have developed options for resolving this issue between Iraq and Turkey on the basis of a security framework agreement,” the politician added.
⠀
In April 2024, during the visit of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Iraq, the parties agreed that Baghdad would not allow the PKK, banned in Turkey, to use Iraqi territory to carry out armed attacks on Turkey. The agreement is “roughly similar” to the 2023 security cooperation agreement between Turkey and Iran, said Amir al-Faiz, a member of the Iraqi Parliament’s Foreign Relations Committee.
⠀
The armed conflict with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party began in Turkey in 1984 and resumed in 2015. There are PKK bases in northern Iraq, against which Ankara is conducting air and ground operations. The presence of Turkish troops in the Zlikan camp, northeast of Iraq’s Mosul, has become a point of contention between Baghdad and Ankara, which justifies its deployment as necessary to fight the PKK.
⠀
The Turkish Armed Forces are also conducting military operations against the PKK in northern Syria. According to the position of the Turkish authorities, the PKK is conducting terrorist activities in the region under the cover of the SDF.
⠀
The formations of the Syrian Democratic Forces, which are based on the Kurdish self-defense units YPG, with the support of the US military, control most of the Syrian provinces of Hasakah and Raqqa, as well as some settlements in the provinces of Aleppo and Deir ez-Zor. In particular, most of the neighborhoods in the cities of Al-Hasak and Qamishli are under their control. Official Damascus does not recognize the autonomous administration in northeast Syria. Syrian authorities have repeatedly called the presence of American troops on their territory an occupation and state piracy for the purpose of blatant oil theft. In addition, Damascus has repeatedly called the presence of Turkish forces in the Syrian border area, which are conducting operations there against Kurdish forces, illegal.
