Kurdistan Region PM receives Turkey’s new ambassador to Iraq

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani on Thursday received Ali Riza Guney, Turkey’s newly inaugurated ambassador to Iraq, in the regional capital of Erbil, congratulating him on his new post.

According to a statement released by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), Barzani told the new Turkish diplomat hoped that Ambassador Guney's tenure sees strengthened relations between both Iraq and the Kurdistan Region with the government of their shared northern neighbor.

For his part, Guney expressed his country’s willingness to develop its working relationship with the autonomous Kurdish region in all sectors, particularly trade and commerce.

Of the prominent issues that will require attention by the three governments is the decades-long conflict between the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and Ankara over Kurdish rights in Turkey that has led to tens of thousands of deaths on both sides.

The group is headquartered in the Kurdistan Region's Qandil Mountains, mostly in rural areas along the Turkish and Iranian borders like Qaladze.

Clashes within the Kurdistan Region have escalated in recent weeks, as have hostilities between the PKK and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

Read More: Overnight Turkish raids on suspected PKK targets cut power to rural villages in Kurdistan Region

Officials from both Iraq and the Kurdistan Region have repeatedly called on Turkey and the PKK to take their fight away from areas populated by civilians, thousands of whom have been displaced, suffered damage to their farms, livestock, or other property. Others have suffered serious injury or even death as a result of skirmishes or Turkish bombardment of suspected PKK positions.

In regards to another perennial Iraq said in June that it would send a technical delegation to Turkey to discuss the burgeoning water crisis between the two countries, another point of contention between Ankara and both Baghdad and Erbil.

Read More: Iraq seeks to intensify discussions with Turkey to remedy possible water crisis

This comes at a time when Iraq is suffering from the early effects of a drought caused by a decline in the water level of the country’s lakes and rivers, while the Kurdistan Region is grappling with decreased water supply and has declared 2021 a "dry year."

Iraq in part blames Turkey, which has built more than 1,000 new dams over the past 18 years. Another 90 dams are expected to be completed this year.

Ankara has itself said on multiple occasions that Turkey is experiencing increasing water stress due to climate change and increasing demand, and has indicated that its water availability per capita is steadily declining.

Editing by John J. Catherine