This is an excerpt from Turkey Briefing, Al-Monitor's weekly newsletter covering the big stories of the week in Turkey. To get Turkey Briefing in your inbox, sign up here.
ANKARA — Baghdad’s acceding to Ankara’s longtime demand by banning the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) reflects Iraqi efforts to increase its say in the Turkish military presence and operations in northern Iraq, while granting Ankara a political cover in targeting the group.
As it hosted a Turkish high-level delegation, Baghdad announced the PKK ban on Thursday, signaling a strong gesture to Ankara on its intentions to improve the bilateral relations. The PKK has been waging an armed campaign against Turkish forces for Kurdish self-rule inside Turkey since 1984.
The PKK, which is listed as a terror outfit by Ankara, Washington and the European Union, is headquartered in northern Iraqi Kurdistan, where Turkey conducts routine airstrikes and holds hundreds of military outposts. Iraq stopped short, however, of listing the group as a terrorist organization.
