ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkey’s war against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Iraq will continue as long as the group remains on Iraqi land, Ankara’s intelligence chief told Iraqi officials during a visit to Baghdad last week, marking the first visit by a senior Turkish official since an attack by Ankara left nine Iraqis dead in Zakho earlier this year.
The head of Turkey’s intelligence agency (MIT), Hakan Fidan, flew to the Iraqi capital of Baghdad last week, where he held a number of private meetings with top Iraqi officials.
Fidan met with Iraqi President Barham Salih, Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, and Parliamentary Speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi over the past week. The meetings were held in private and no details were disclosed to the public.
Rudaw understands from one of the officials the MIT chief met with that during the meetings, Fidan had stressed Turkey’s support for Iraqi sovereignty, however has told them that Turkey’s war with the PKK will continue in Iraq as long as the group remains on Iraqi land.
Fidan’s visit comes less than two months after Iraq voiced its concern over Turkish operations in the country’s autonomous Kurdistan Region to the United Nations’ Security Council, warning that Turkey has “expansionist” goals behind its repeated attacks on Iraqi territory.
Iraq’s complaint to the Security Council came in response to a Turkish bombardment earlier in July that killed nine Iraqi tourists in Duhok province, sparking national outrage in the country.
According to information obtained by Rudaw English, Iraqi officials reiterated their concerns over the Duhok attack during their meeting with Fidan.
Shortly after the attack, Iraq’s National Security Council urged the withdrawal of Turkish troops from Iraqi land as the country erupted into a fury following the emergence of details about the tragedy, however Fidan’s talking points with Iraqi officials puts a Turkish withdrawal from Iraq off the table.
Turkish violations since 2018 have numbered a staggering 22,740, Ahmed al-Sahaf, spokesperson for the Iraqi foreign ministry said at the time, adding that "the number of memoranda and complaints submitted by the Iraqi government to the Turkish side amounted to 296 complaints."
According to the latest report by the Iraqi ministry of defense in July, the Turkish military has entered 105 kilometers deep into Iraqi lands and has over 4,000 soldiers inside the country.
Fidan on Saturday met with the head of the Iraqi Sunni Sovereignty Alliance Khamis al-Khanjar.
The meeting was confirmed to Rudaw by Mohammed al-Bayati, an MP of the alliance, but he said that they refuse to share the details of the meeting.
Rudaw understands that Fidan had encouraged a united Sunni front in Iraq.
The Turkish government is seen as a strong ally of the Sunni bloc in Iraq. Sunni leaders Khanjar and Halbousi in February met with Turkish President in Ankara.
“President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a closed-door meeting with the two Iraqi officials at the Vahdettin Mansion, according to the Presidency of Turkey,” Anadolu Agency reported on February 26. “Hakan Fidan, head of Turkey's National Intelligence Organization, also attended the meeting.”
Turkey launched its latest operation dubbed Operation Claw-Lock on April 18 targeting PKK hideouts in the mountainous areas of Metina, Zap, Avashin, and Basyan in Duhok province. The operation is the fourth stage of Ankara’s Claw operations against the PKK in the Kurdistan Region, with the first stage starting in 2019.
The PKK is an armed group fighting for the increased rights of Kurds in Turkey and designated a terrorist organization by Ankara.
Despite Ankara's denial, the assaults have previously led to civilian casualties who are often caught in the crossfire.
Media outlets close to the PKK on Sunday reported an alleged Turkish drone attack on vehicle belonging to the Shingal Resistance Units (YBS), an all Yazidi armed group in Sinjar considered by Turkey to be an offshoot of the PKK, outside an Iraqi army base in Shingal.
