President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Iraq's Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) President Nechirvan Barzani came together in the Turkish capital Ankara on Wednesday.
The pair held a closed-door meeting, also attended by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, to discuss bilateral ties and regional developments.
"Israel’s increasing aggression has the risk of turning the entire region into a battlefield, therefore, Türkiye appreciates Iraqi authorities' efforts to keep their country out of the conflict," Erdoğan told Barzani at the meeting, according to a statement of the Presidency's Directorate of Communications.
Erdoğan also expressed the need to maintain cooperation to "permanently eliminate the threat of terrorism in this troubled period" and assured Türkiye would continue standing with Iraq and its people, the statement said.
Barzani reportedly held separate talks with Fidan and intelligence director Ibrahim Kalın ahead of his meeting with Erdoğan.
Barzani’s visit comes at a time of intensifying Turkish operations against the PKK terrorist group in northern Iraq’s mountainous Qandil region, which is currently under the de-jure control of the KRG, where the central Iraqi government has little influence.
The PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the United States, Britain and the European Union – is responsible for over 40,000 civilian and security personnel deaths in Türkiye during an almost four-decadelong campaign of terror.
The conflict was initially fought in rural regions of southeastern Türkiye, but the terrorists have moved a large chunk of operations to northern Iraq. Ankara maintains dozens of military bases there and regularly targets PKK.
Up until recently, Iraq has said the operations violate its sovereignty, but Ankara says it is protecting its borders where the intention is to establish a 30-40 kilometer (18.64-24.86 mile) security corridor.
In August, the neighbors agreed to military cooperation, namely joint training and operation centers, against the terrorists, months after Baghdad declared the PKK a banned organization.
Türkiye, however, wants Iraq to recognize the PKK as a terrorist group fully.
The PKK has a political foothold in the KRG-run city of Sulaymaniyah through PUK, much to the chagrin of Ankara, who has warned to take measures if the city’s administration continues to tolerate terrorists.
Barzani earlier this summer urged implementation of the Sinjar agreement signed with the country's central government, demanding that the terrorist PKK and all other illegal groups leave the town, liberated from Daesh in 2014 yet occupied by PKK a year later.
Erdoğan himself was in Baghdad and KRG capital Irbil in April, his first visit in over a decade, to discuss counterterrorism, as well as energy and trade, most notably the Development Road project.
"We expect Iraq to recognize PKK as a terrorist group and rid this bloody terror group from its lands," Erdoğan told a joint press conference with Iraqi Premier Mohammed Shia' Al Sudani.
Erdoğan and Barzani also discussed the Development Road project’s contribution to regional economic development, stability and the Turkish-Iraqi "fraternity."