The Iraqi and Turkish governments will soon prepare their own proposals on how to overcome the long-troubled area of cooperation in the fight against terrorism and create a roadmap that will boost ties and eliminate threats, Iraq’s Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said.
Speaking to Daily Sabah in an exclusive interview, Hussein said: "We are going to present a paper to the next meeting and the Turkish side is going to present theirs and on the basis of these papers there will be a common plan."
"We started serious talks with the Turkish side. We had a meeting in December – a meeting of the council of political and security joint committee," Hussein said, indicating that the meeting happened in a highly positive atmosphere. Another meeting is planned for next month.
Saying that momentous talks are ongoing on how to deal with security issues, Hussein underlined that they comprise both the security within the two states as well as the security between the two states.
"We hope that we can reach a conclusion in our discussions so that we can secure the area and then we will not need any attacks on some groups in Iraq."
Hussein’s words are critical in stating their determination to solve the problem that has long poisoned ties and hindered further enhancement of cooperation.
The issue of the fight against terrorism has long been on the agenda of the two countries, causing tensions now and again in relations. The PKK's presence within Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is causing national security concerns for Ankara and is prompting Türkiye to launch unilateral attacks against terrorist targets on Iraqi soil – which Iraq describes as a violation of its sovereignty.
On the other side, Hussein said that Iraq is enjoying ever greater security in the country, which will prevent any problems in carrying out the Iraq Development Project, a vast $17-billion infrastructure and transportation project set to link the Persian Gulf to Europe via Iraq and Türkiye with railways, roadways and ports.
The Iraqi minister pointed out that the project starts at Grand Faw Port, a major commodities port in Iraq’s oil-rich south.
"As for the Faw project, we are at a very advanced stage," he said. "When we are talking about Faw there is also the possibility of a land connection to Gulf countries."
"It is a huge and important project so we are in intensive discussions with the Turkish side and the Turkish side is paying a lot of attention to this project and we are almost in every meeting discussing the various stages of this project."
Being asked about the estimated deadline for the development road, Hussein said that an exact date cannot be given due to its dependence on foreign investment, but that Gulf countries are highly interested in investing.
There are 1,200 kilometers (746 miles) of work to be done in Iraqi territory for the project. At the same time, the section within the Turkish borders is around 1,600-1,700 km (994-1,056 mi), the Turkish Transportation Minister detailed recently.