Iraq
Iraqi National Security Advisor Qasim al-Araji talking to reporters in Sulaimani on October 29, 2023. Photo: Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq is seeking to reach an understanding with Turkey to end military activities and attacks launched from its land by groups such as the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), the country’s top security advisor said Sunday.
“Iraq is seeking to prevent any armed group or any military action launched from its land, and its current efforts with all parties are to reach an understanding to end this file once and for all,” Iraqi National Security Advisor Qasim al-Araji told reporters in Sulaimani, noting a security pact recently agreed upon with Iran.
Iraq on September 19 announced that it has complied with the terms of the joint security pact with Iran and disarmed Kurdish opposition groups on the Iraq-Iran border. Tehran has carried out many attacks on the alleged positions of these groups, including using both ballistic missiles and drones.
“Turkey is a big neighbor as is the Islamic republic,” Araji said, calling the PKK issue an “important and sensitive file.”
The PKK is a Kurdish group that has waged an armed insurgency against Turkey for decades and is designated a terrorist organization by Ankara, which has launched numerous operations against the group and its alleged offshoots in the Kurdistan Region and Syria.
Turkey routinely bombards suspected PKK positions in the Kurdistan Region’s mountainous areas through air and drone strikes. The strikes have led to the loss of civilian lives often caught in the crossfire, the destruction of the natural environment, and over 500 villages being abandoned.
The Iraqi government has repeatedly called on armed groups not to launch attacks on neighbors from within Iraq’s borders.
Earlier in October, Iraq’s top military spokesperson Yehia Rasool told Rudaw that an Iraq-Turkey bilateral security pact will soon be activated and will “achieve good results as they were achieved with neighboring Iran,” following an escalation of anti-PKK strikes in the Kurdistan Region by Turkey.
In April, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani said that armed groups such as the PKK abused the security gap after the 2003 Iraq invasion to set up bases and launch attacks on neighboring countries from Iraqi territory.
Sudani and other senior Iraqi officials have also repeatedly blasted Turkey for violating Iraqi sovereignty through air and drone strikes within the Kurdistan Region’s borders.
On Wednesday, at least nine PKK fighters were killed in Turkish drone strikes in the Kurdistan Region’s Erbil and Duhok provinces.
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