FILE PHOTO: Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan give a joint statement to the media in Baghdad, Iraq April 22, 2024. AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
ANKARA (Reuters) - Senior Turkish and Iraqi officials will hold high-level talks in Ankara on Thursday to develop cooperation on security issues, a Turkish diplomatic source said on Wednesday.
The neighbours have in recent years been at loggerheads over Ankara's cross-border military operations against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants based in northern Iraq's mountainous region.
Iraq has said the operations are a violation of its sovereignty, but Ankara says they are needed to protect itself.
Ties have improved since last year, when the two sides agreed to hold high-level talks on security matters, and after a visit in April by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan to Baghdad, where he said relations had entered a new phase.
Ankara and Baghdad have so far held three rounds of meetings as part of the dialogue mechanism, with Iraq deciding to label the PKK a "banned organisation in Iraq" during the latest talks held in March -- a move welcomed by Turkey.
The Turkish source said Thursday's encounter would mark the first meeting of a "Joint Planning Group", which was decided during Erdogan's trip and is headed by the respective foreign ministers.
Talks would also take place to put their cooperation within an institutional and sustainable framework, the source added, saying the delegations would discuss the implementation of 27 agreements signed during Erdogan's visit, and evaluate further joint initiatives.
On Monday, Turkish Defence Minister Yasar Guler told Reuters that the recent steps taken by Turkey and Iraq in terms of counter-terrorism marked a "turning point", adding the technical work on establishing a joint operations centre for the region was ongoing.
Guler also said Turkey's cross-border operations in northern Iraq would continue until "the name of terror is wiped out from this region", adding that Ankara expected Baghdad to label the PKK a terrorist organisation as soon as possible.
The PKK, which has been waging an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984, is designated a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. More than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict.
(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu, Editing by Ece Toksabay and Crispian Balmer)
