Shafaq News – Baghdad

Iraq will hold talks with Turkiye over its decision to extend a cross-border military mandate for three more years, Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said on Friday.

Speaking at a ceremony for the renovation of Baghdad’s diplomatic quarter, Hussein said discussions with Ankara were ongoing and described bilateral relations as “good.”

Turkiye’s parliament approved the extension on October 21, authorizing operations in Iraq and Syria through 2028 – the longest mandate since its incursions began in 2016. The measure allows continued strikes against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and ISIS.

The move comes despite a peace initiative by the PKK, which earlier this year announced its disbandment and disarmament after imprisoned leader Abdullah Ocalan called for an end to the armed struggle. The insurgency, launched in 1984, left more than 37,000 people dead and repeatedly extended into northern Iraq.

Turkiye, the United States, and the European Union continue to classify the group as a terrorist organization.

Read more: Turkiye’s cautious gamble: PKK disarmament and the regional chessboard

Ankara maintains about 136 bases across Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, up from 15 in 2018, forming a buffer zone stretching roughly 40 kilometers inside Iraqi territory. Turkish airstrikes in 2024 exceeded 1,000, displacing more than 600 villagers in Duhok and burning some 20,000 dunams (20 km²) of farmland.