Turkish president, speaking with Iraqi PM, calls for better cooperation in fighting terrorism

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – In a phone call with Iraqi prime minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan stressed the need to improve cooperation between the neighboring countries and further develop bilateral relations.

The Turkish president's office said, as reported by Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency, that Erdogan discussed with Kadhimi "bilateral relations and regional issues," with the former praising Turkish-Iraqi ties in the "commercial, military, and intelligence fields."

Erdogan stressed the need to increase Baghdad-Ankara cooperation "in the field of combating terrorism," the report said.

It added, "Erdogan also stressed that the PKK terror group continues its existence in Qandil, northern Iraq, as well as in the Mahmur and Sinjar regions, which are directly under the control of the central government."

The Turkish president claimed that "in a recent operation held in these regions used by the terrorist PKK and its affiliates, Turkey targeted only the members of the terror group, as it has always done before."

The statement is in reference to the latest rounds of operations that led to multiple civilian casualties in the Shingal (Sinjar) area, where members of the Yezidi Protection Units (YBŞ) militia group, who are seen as close associates of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), reside.

Read More: Second Turkish airstrike in Iraq's disputed Sinjar in two days

While Erdogan insisted that the Turkish military was targeting a facility used by the PKK, local sources stated the building was a hospital serving a rural Yezidi community.

In recent years, Turkey's cross-border incursion into the Kurdistan Region and Iraq and its attacks have killed dozens of civilians as the PKK continues a decades-long insurgency against Ankara.