Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan signed a comprehensive 24-point agreement with Iraqi Prime Minister Muhammad Shiya al-Sudani on Monday.
Erdoğan also visited Erbil, in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, yesterday. Masoud Barzani, leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), posted on X that he was “pleased to receive Erdoğan,” despite the fact that Turkey is occupying part of Iraqi Kurdistan’s border region, and has killed at least ten civilians in aerial attacks so far this year.
According to the Turkish state channel, TRT, a primary focus of the discussions was collaboration in operations against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) within Iraqi Kurdistan.
Erdoğan conveyed to the press his approval of Iraq’s recent actions against the PKK, stating, “I welcome the declaration of the PKK as a proscribed organisation in Iraq.” Notably, Iraqi leaders had already banned the PKK in March. The full details of Monday’s agreement have yet to be released, and crucially, it is still uncertain whether Iraqi leaders have in fact fully labelled the PKK as a proscribed organisation, a long-standing demand of the Turkish state.
Iraqi Government Spokesperson Basim al-Awwadi announced on Tuesday, however, that PKK members in Iraq would be treated as political refugees, rather than subject to arrests for membership of the organisation.
“We said that the National Security Council has declared the PKK a banned group. It will be handled in the same way as the security agreement Iraq has with the Iranian side. Each PKK member in Iraq will be recognised as a political refugee but will not have the right to engage in political and military activities or carry weapons. They will be supervised by the Iraqi government, the United Nations and international humanitarian organisations. This is how Iraq will treat them,” the spokesperson said.
In his discussions with Sudani and Iraqi President Abdul Latif on Monday Rashid, Erdoğan outlined the agreed mutual steps to combat the PKK.
However, Duran Kalkan of the Kurdistan Communities Union expressed scepticism yesterday before the meeting, remarking, “Every summer, Erdoğan claims, ‘This summer, I will end the PKK.’ Twenty-two summers have passed during his tenure. What has been achieved? Who still believes him? No one.”
TRT also reported that agreements concerning Iraq’s water supply, increased trade and oil imports have been finalised. The two nations have also consented to a substantial $17bn road infrastructure project, establishing a new trade route between them.
The agreement announced on 22 April commits to a decade-long joint venture on water infrastructure projects along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, historically a point of contention due to Turkey’s extensive construction of megadams on these rivers.
According to al-Awwadi, Turkey also reached an agreement to restart oil exports from Iraqi Kurdistan to Turkey. He said: “Some time ago, the Turkish side informed Iraq that it was ready to start exports through pipelines to the port of Ceyhan. Therefore, this problem is over and now solved. The only remaining issue is the financial rights of foreign oil companies in the region between the Kurdistan Region and the federal government.”
#BREAKING: Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' Al-Sudani and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan preside over the signing of a quadrilateral memorandum of understanding between #Iraq, #Turkey, #Qatar, and the #UAE to collaborate on the Development Road project, Iraqi state media… pic.twitter.com/7pFRUmfybY
— The New Region (@thenewregion) April 22, 2024
There has long been controversy over Turkey’s construction of hundreds of megadams on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Monday’s agreement announces a decade-long joint water infrastructure project on the two rivers agreed by the Iraqi and Turkish governments.
