Erdogan visits Iraq after 12 years
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived in Baghdad on Monday for his first state visit to Iraq since 2011. During his meetings with top Iraqi officials, Erdogan discussed water, oil, regional security, and Iraq’s Road of Development.
“Iraq and Turkey have signed a strategic security pact, as well as another agreement on water sharing between Iraq and Turkey,” Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani said in a joint press conference with Erdogan in Baghdad. “We will not let anyone launch attacks on the neighboring countries from our territories, and we will not let anyone breach our sovereignty.”
Sudani also said that a quadrilateral memorandum of understanding between Iraq, Turkey, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates has been signed to establish the necessary frameworks for implementing the Strategic Development Road project.
Erdogan stressed that they had signed a strategy security pact against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and the Gulen Movement with Iraq, emphasizing that Iraq had formally recognized the PKK as a “terrorist” organization. He also said they have established permanent committees to address water issues, Iraq’s water scarcity, environmental issues, and the development of the trade, tourism, and education sectors.