12 years without going to Iraq/ Erdogan makes the historic visit, demands war against the Kurdish rebels

2024-04-22 16:31:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

12 years without going to Iraq/ Erdogan makes the historic visit, demands war

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Abdul Latif Rashid

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with his counterpart, Abdul Latif Rashid in Baghdad, where he is on an official visit.

Political analysts in Turkey described as historic the visit of President Erdogan, who visited Baghdad for the last time 12 years ago. Information indicates that over 20 agreements will be signed during the Turkish president's stay in the Iraqi capital.

The Turkish side attaches particular importance to two agreements: The first concerns the joint military response to the Kurdish PKK rebels, who use Northern Iraq as their base. Turkey and President Erdogan himself have announced that within the summer there will be a major operation of the Turkish army in Northern Iraq to clear the area from the PKK, and in this regard Ankara seeks the cooperation of Baghdad.

The second important issue that Turkey wants from Iraq is the signing of an agreement on the creation of the road axis planned by Ankara that will connect the Persian Gulf with Turkey, creating an alternative and competitive transport axis to the planned sea and rail trade axis, which will start from India and through the Arabian Peninsula and Israel, will end in the Mediterranean and from there to the ports of Greece and Italy.

For water-scarce Iraq, the signing of an agreement to supply water from Turkey is of great importance.

The meeting was held behind closed doors and few details were given about the content of the talks. According to the Directorate of Communications of the Turkish Presidency, the Kurdish language and the situation of the Turkmen in Northern Iraq were among the main issues raised by Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

President Erdogan said that the steps taken by Turkey and Iraq in the coming period together will contribute to regional development and prosperity.

President Erdogan also stated that efforts to stop Israeli oppression in Gaza continue and that Islamic countries must act united in this process./ CNA