A MEMORANDUM of Understanding was signed by the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the Iraqi puppet Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, in Ankara on Wednesday.
Maliki paid a one-day official visit to Turkey.
As far as the Turks were concerned the visit was to sign a ‘co-operation’ agreement that would allow Turkish troops to cross over into northern Iraq to fight the PKK, Kurdish Workers Party.
Maliki’s Kurdish allies insisted that no such cooperation agreement could be signed and the MOU is very much a second best arrangement.
However the Turkish side declared that it still provides the framework for cooperation between Turkey and Iraq aimed at preventing and stopping the PKK from working in northern Iraq, and that the full cooperation agreement will be drawn up within a fortnight, and signed within two months.
The Memorandum of Understanding states that the two prime ministers ‘confirmed their agreement to make strenuous efforts in order to isolate and neutralise all terrorist organisations, including PKK/KONGRA-GEL, a terrorist organisation, and to put an end to their activities and presence in the region.’
It says that the two prime ministers issued instructions to speed up the preparation of an agreement on cooperation against terrorism to be signed between the two countries as well as a memorandum of understanding between the interior ministries on cooperation in the field of fighting against terrorism and organised crime and to conclude both agreements within the next two months, noting that the Iraqi Minister of Interior will visit Turkey within the next two weeks in order to draw up the agreements in question.
Turkey is keen to be able to carry out military operations in Iraqi Kurdistan, but many think that once established in the region Turkey, which still has a claim on Mosul and the oil bearing region in northern Iraq will never leave.
With Maliki not prepared to sign a ‘co-operation agreement’, the matter was postponed.
The Turkish statement insists: ‘The memorandum of understanding signed by Al-Maliki and Erdogan today lays special emphasis on the fight on terrorism and confirms their agreement to make strenuous efforts in order to isolate and neutralise all terrorist organisations, including PKK/KONGRA-GEL, a terrorist organisation, and to put an end to their activities and presence in the region.
‘The memorandum of understanding which was signed by Al-Maliki and Erdogan during a news conference they held after the conclusion of their meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office and negotiations conducted by the delegations of the two countries, lays down Turkey and Iraq’s strong commitment to maintain mutual respect, solidarity, friendship, and good neighbourly relations without interfering in their internal affairs.
‘The document emphasises that the two countries are determined to mobilise their resources to strengthen their cooperation.
‘It constitutes a framework for cooperation between Turkey and Iraq aimed at preventing and stopping terrorism and organised crime.
‘It states: “The two countries have confirmed existing cooperation in the field of security and enforcement of law and agreed to reinforce and extend this cooperation with a view to fighting against terrorism.
‘ “The two prime ministers reiterated their determination to fight against terrorism and confirmed their agreement to make strenuous efforts in order to isolate and neutralise all terrorist organisations, including PKK/KONGRA-GEL, a terrorist organisation, and to put an end to their activities and presence in the region in that context”.’
The memorandum of understanding notes that the two countries confirmed that the Ankara Agreement about legal and judicial issues which was concluded between the two countries on 5 June 1926;
Agreement on Friendship and Good Neighbourliness Between Turkey and Iraq which was signed on 29 March 1946, and Agreement on Legal and Judicial Cooperation between the Republic of Turkey and the Republic of Iraq signed on 19 September 1989, when Saddam Hussein ruled Iraq, are still in force.
The memorandum of understanding underscores that the two countries will fulfil their commitments to ensure the implementation of the UN Security Council’s resolutions 1373 of 2001, 1546 and 1566 of 2004, and 1624 of 2005 and are desirous to cooperate in order to wage an effective struggle against acts of terrorism carried out by terrorist groups. It also notes that the two countries are resolved to give a fresh impetus to efforts aimed at defeating terrorism.
It says that the two prime ministers issued instructions to speed up the preparation of an agreement on cooperation against terrorism and a memorandum of understanding between the interior ministries on cooperation in the field of fighting against terrorism and organised crime to be signed between the two countries and to conclude both agreements within the next two months, noting that the Iraqi Minister of Interior will visit Turkey within the next two weeks in order to draw up the agreements in question.
The memorandum of understanding also welcomes the conclusion of another memorandum of understanding on cooperation between the two countries which was signed by the ministers of energy during Al-Maliki’s visit to Turkey and places particular emphasis on natural gas.
It states that the two prime ministers instructed competent authorities in order to ensure that a comprehensive agreement on economic partnership which is aimed at facilitating Iraq’s integration with the world economy and trade system is concluded by the joint economic committee as soon as possible.
Turkish sources denied that the Iraqi Kurdish leader Barzani insisted that the cooperation accord could not be signed at this meeting.
Diplomatic sources from the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied on Wednesday news reports that objections by Masoud Barzani, head of a regional administration in the north of Iraq, hindered the signing of a cooperation agreement between Turkey and Iraq to counter terrorism, during the visit by Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to Ankara.
These sources said that news reports which alleged that ‘Turkey had settled for a lesser document than a full-fledged agreement’ were only ‘speculative,’ stressing that Tuesday’s memorandum of understanding (MOU) ‘had a binding force all over Iraq.’
Sources also refuted rumours that the Iraqi premier had a phone conversation with Barzani during his meeting with Turkish officials.
‘Iraq will send a delegation to Turkey in two weeks time and a cooperation agreement will be signed within the next two months’, the Turkish Foreign office sources said, adding that the Memorandum of Understanding was not an alternative to the cooperation agreement.
‘Iraqis are now compelled by a schedule,’ they added, ‘and the Iraqis must keep to it.’
Iraqi Kurds and their leaders are adamant that Turkey will never be granted the right to send thousands of troops over their border to fight the PKK or any other force in northern Iraq, and will have no special or guaranteed business access to Iraqi oil or gas.
