Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Defense Minister Yasar Guler, and the head of Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT) will visit Baghdad for talks on counterterrorism with Iraqi officials on Thursday.
The visit comes ahead of a possible major cross-border operation in Iraq against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), according to the Daily Sabah.
Media outlets reported the senior officials will discuss setting up a “joint operations center,” as well as work to secure the Turkish-Iraqi border and the Development Road Project.
The Development Road Project is an ambitious $17 billion scheme to create a 1,200-kilometer (745 miles) railway and highways that would connect the Great Faw Port in the south of Iraq with the Turkish border.
A Turkish delegation led by Gen. Metin Tokel, the commander of the Second Army, was in Iraq on Tuesday for talks on border security and the security of Iraqi citizens, the Daily Sabah said.
Guler said on Monday that Ankara does not need to “ask” for permission from other countries regarding Turkey’s security, in reference to concerns of a violation of sovereignty with cross-border attacks on their territory.
The defense minister said Turkey is transitioning in its strategy from the PKK, moving to more sustained operations without a time limit.
