Turkish Defense Minister: Turkish-Iraqi relations in the field of combating terrorism have achieved great progress

Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler stressed that Turkish-Iraqi relations have made great progress recently, and that Turkey attaches great importance to these relations. Guler said during a meeting held via video call with the commanders of the Turkish forces participating in operations outside the borders, during a visit he made to the southeastern province of Sirnak, which borders Iraq: "We have started taking concrete steps within the framework of the memorandum of understanding on security cooperation and combating terrorism that we signed with Iraq to end the presence of the terrorist organization Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the region." He pointed out that the "PKK" violates Iraq's sovereignty and burns farms, fields and workplaces and displaces villagers from their homes, and its presence poses a threat to Iraq and Turkey. On August 15, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding on military and security cooperation and combating terrorism bet ween Ankara and Baghdad. In turn, Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said, during a joint press conference in Ankara with Fidan, that this memorandum of understanding is the first of its kind in the history of the two countries. It is worth noting that Turkey is carrying out operations to combat the "PKK", which targets its forces and citizens, and is active in countries in the region, including Syria, Iraq and Iran, and the PKK has taken the Qandil Mountains in northern Iraq as a stronghold / according to Turkish defense data /. Source: National Iraqi News Agency