Iraqi Government Bans Activities of PKK

Baghdad has announced that the activities of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has been fighting the Turkish government for decades, are banned in Iraq. Turkey has long requested Iraq to prohibit the activities of this group, whose militants are based in the mountainous regions of northern Iraq. The decision to ban PKK activities was made on July 15 and was published on Tuesday, July 24, by the administrative affairs section of the Iraqi parliament. The statement from this body indicates that Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani, the Prime Minister of Iraq, has ordered that from now on, all government documents and correspondence refer to the PKK as the 'banned Kurdistan Workers' Party.' This statement is the clearest expression of the Iraqi government's stance on this group to date. Erdogan's visit to Iraq after 13 years; efforts to counter the PKK and improve economic relations. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Iraq for the first time in thirteen years in May of this year. At that time, he stated that he and the Prime Minister of Iraq had consulted on joint actions of the two countries to counter the terrorist group PKK and its affiliates that attack Turkey from Iraqi territory. The official statement released on Tuesday suggests that the Iraqi government, unlike Turkey, the United States, and the European Union, has not designated the PKK as a 'terrorist group' but has banned its activities. Evidence indicates that the PKK has bases in the mountainous areas of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. In recent months, the Turkish army has concentrated a significant force near the border with the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and has threatened to potentially attack PKK forces inside Iraqi territory. In recent years, the Turkish army has repeatedly targeted areas in Syria and Iraq that it claims are positions of the PKK and affiliated groups. Baghdad has consistently condemned Turkish attacks, describing them as a violation of Iraq's territorial integrity. However, a few months ago, Turkey and Iraq issued a joint statement saying that the PKK poses a security threat to both countries. In another event, the Turkish Ministry of Defense announced on Tuesday that four individuals suspected of being PKK members were killed in an airstrike by Turkey in northern Iraq, one of whom was on Turkey's most wanted list. The Ministry identified this individual as Yusuf Kalkan, stating that he was wanted for membership in a 'terrorist group' and for leading and financing a 'terrorist group.'