SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi will visit Turkey on Thursday to meet senior Turkish officials, according to a diplomat.
Iraqi ambassador to Turkey Hassan Janabi said in a statement on his official Facebook account that Iraqi foreign minister Fuad Hussein would first visit Ankara to make preparations for Kadhimi’s trip.
Kadhimi and senior Turkish officials including President Recep Tayyip Erdogan are expected to discuss political developments and Turkey’s concerns over the presence of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Iraq.
Sinjar agreement between the Kurdistan Region and the federal government as well as PKK-affiliated groups in Sinjar will also be addressed during their meetings.
In October, the federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) reached an agreement to normalize the governance and security situation in Sinjar.
Spokesman of Iraqi Joint Operations Command Tahsin al-Khafaji said on December 3 that all armed groups had left Sinjar and that the federal government had made “great efforts in consultation with PKK-affiliated groups in preparing the grounds for the implementation of the agreement”.
Kadhimi will also discuss the issue of water between Iraq and Turkey during his visit in Ankara.
Iraq secures its water need from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, stemming from Turkey, which been trying to use the rivers’ water to generate electric power for years. Ankara has built Ilisu dam in 2006 and made it operational in 2018.
The dam limited the flow of water to Iraq, which exacerbated fear in Mesopotamia of an acute water shortage and an incapacity to meet the population’s daily and agricultural needs.
Iraq does not have a water agreement with Turkey, but for decades Baghdad has signed a number of protocols on the flow of water to its territories.
Kadhimi’s cabinet is addressing the water issue with great attention, but it faces skepticism in its ability to conclude a water sharing agreement with Turkey.
