The Iraqi foreign ministry summoned Turkey’s ambassador in Baghdad, Anıl Bora İnan, following comments by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan regarding the presence of outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) elements in Iraq, the Anka news agency reported, citing the Iraqi foreign ministry.
İnan was called to the ministry after Fidan said in a televised interview this week that following developments in Syria, there would be an “Iraq leg” to the issue, referring to the Kurdish militants’ presence in northern Iraq.
“After the Syria leg is completed, there is the Iraq leg,” Fidan said Monday evening on CNN Türk. “Hopefully they will take lessons from what happened here and make a wiser decision so that the transition there becomes easier.”
Fidan’s remarks came after recent developments in Syria, where the Damascus government reached an agreement with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in late January following clashes that led the SDF to withdraw from areas it had long controlled.
The PKK is expected to disband and lay down its arms as part of an ongoing peace process with the Turkish government. Groups linked to the PKK in Syria — including the SDF and the People’s Protection Units (YPG), which form the backbone of the SDF — are also expected to disband or integrate into the Syrian state.
Ankara says it wants the PKK’s presence in the region completely eliminated. The group has long maintained bases in northern Iraq’s Kandil Mountains area, from where it has launched attacks inside Turkey.
Fidan said the PKK is set to become a major issue for Iraq, warning that the group does not control any territory inside Turkey but “occupies large areas in Iraq.”
“How can a sovereign state allow this?” he asked, adding that “changes could soon take place” in several areas, including Iraq’s Sinjar and Makhmour as well as the Kandil Mountains.
His remarks led to claims about whether Turkey was preparing a cross-border operation against PKK militants into northern Iraq.
Iraqi Foreign Ministry Undersecretary for Bilateral Relations Ambassador Mohammed Hussein Bahr Aluloom in a statement conveyed Baghdad’s discomfort with Fidan’s remarks, describing them as harmful to friendly relations between the two countries, an interference in Iraq’s internal affairs and a violation of diplomatic norms.
Aluloom said Iraq is a constitutional and democratic state with its own political system and cannot be compared to other countries, adding that matters relating to Sinjar and other Iraqi territories are national issues to be handled within Iraq’s own priorities and mechanisms.
Iraq rejects external interference, imposed solutions or the use of such matters for political or military purposes, he said.
According to the statement, İnan said Fidan’s comments had been misunderstood due to an incorrect translation. He said the remarks were not directed at Iraq’s internal affairs or its citizens but referred to PKK elements operating in Iraq.
İnan said Turkey’s policy toward Iraq remains unchanged and that Ankara respects Iraq’s sovereignty and does not interfere in its domestic affairs.
Over the past two years Ankara and Baghdad have established a high-level security coordination mechanism to address the PKK, holding five meetings in the two capitals, the most recent of which was in April. Following Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s visit to Iraq in April 2024, Iraq’s National Security Council formally designated the PKK as a banned organization.