Turkey, Iraq on same page against terror groups, says Erdoğan

Turkey and Iraq agreed to continue fighting terrorists trying to disrupt peace and stability in their common region, the Turkish president announced on Dec. 17. 

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's remarks came at a joint news conference following a meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi who is in Turkey to discuss regional, bilateral and economic ties.

Erdoğan said terror groups such as Daesh, also known as ISIL, as well as the PKK and FETÖ, were "common enemies" of both sides and underlined that separatist terrorist aims had no future in Turkey, Iraq or Syria.

Recent terror attacks have shown that the PKK's Syrian offshoot, known as the YPG, poses a threat to Iraqi security as well, the president said, referring to a YPG/PKK attack on Peshmerga forces in the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) in Iraq on Wednesday.

Erdoğan went on to hail Baghdad's appointment of a Turkmen minister to its cabinet, adding that Turkey stood by Iraq without any kind of ethnic or religious discrimination be it concerning Turkmens, Kurds or Arabs, or the Shia and Sunni sects.

Protecting Iraq's political unity, territorial integrity, safety, and security are among Turkey's chief concerns, he underlined, expressing Ankara's willingness to contribute to Iraq's reconstruction.

On the economic front, Erdoğan noted that both countries could easily reach their trade goal of $20 billion and that the leaders agreed to help Turkish and Iraqi businessmen by removing obstacles in the way of commerce.

Further stressing that both countries shared a great potential in the energy sector, he called for the repair of the Kirkuk-Ceyhan oil pipeline - damaged by ISIL attacks - by which oil from Iraq's Kirkuk province could make its way to the...

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