Turkey regularly carries out cross-border operations in northern Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, justifying its actions as necessary to combat the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has waged a decades-long insurgency for Kurdish rights in Turkey’s southeast.

Kadhimi and Akar agreed that stability in the border areas “would open the doors for more cooperation between the two countries," the statement added.

The prime minister also said that Iraq opposed all attacks on Turkey originating in its territory, NRT reported.

Akar expressed his country’s readiness for full cooperation with Iraq in combating the PKK, according to Turkish state-owned newspaper Daily Sabah.

The Turkish delegation, which included the country’s military Chief of Staff General Yasar Guler, also met with Iraqi Minister of Defense Jumaa Inad earlier in the day. They are expected to see Iraqi Kurdish President Barham Salih and Interior Minister Othman al-Ghanm later during their visit to Baghdad.

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