I had the pleasure of being in Baghdad, one of the ancient cities of our civilization, after a long time, upon the invitation of the Prime Minister of Iraq, my dear brother Muhammad Shiya al-Sudani. 🇹🇷🇮🇶
I believe that my visit and the signed agreements will constitute a turning point in our relations.
The Strategic Framework Agreement for Joint Cooperation, which we signed with the Prime Minister, constitutes a solid road map.
We decided to establish joint standing committees that will ensure the continuation and monitoring of technical negotiations in many areas such as security, fight against terrorism, economy, trade, energy, transportation, environment, transboundary waters, health and education.
In addition, the texts signed on many topics, from security to trade, from transportation to agriculture, will strengthen the contractual basis of our relations and bring new cooperation opportunities.
During our meetings, we discussed the joint steps we could take against the terrorist organization PKK and its extensions, which target Turkey from Iraqi territory.
We welcomed the declaration of PKK as a banned organization in Iraq.
On this occasion, I shared with my counterparts my strong belief that it will be officially declared a terrorist organization and its presence in Iraqi territory will end as soon as possible.
This is also a requirement of our law of neighborliness and brotherhood.
We are ready to provide all the support that the Iraqi government will need in every step it takes in this direction.
We want to increase our trade volume, which was around 20 billion dollars last year, to higher levels.
We touched upon the vital importance of the Development Road Project in terms of this goal.
With the memorandum of understanding we signed, we have reinforced our determination regarding this strategic planning, which will make a great contribution to the stability and prosperity of our entire region, especially Iraq.
We are doing our best to stop the bloodshed in Gaza.
The developments taking place on the axis of Israel and Iran increase the risk of the war spreading and escalating, and further overshadow the massacre in Palestine.
I hereby advise all relevant parties to avoid steps that escalate tensions.
