ANKARA: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said in remarks published on Tuesday he believed Iraq saw the need to eliminate the Kurdish PKK militia and had the will to do so, adding Ankara wanted Baghdad’s support in that battle.
Erdogan was speaking after talks in Baghdad and Irbil on Monday, the first visit by a Turkish leader to Iraq since 2011, following years of tensions as Ankara carried out cross-border attacks on PKK militants based in northern Iraq.
Ties between the neighbors were entering a new phase, Erdogan said, after they agreed to cooperate against militants, boost economic ties via a new corridor and consider Iraq’s needs for access to scarce water.
Speaking to reporters on his flight back from Iraq, Erdogan said Turkiye’s battle with terrorism would continue in line with international law, and added he hoped to see concrete results of Baghdad labeling the PKK a “banned organization” last month.
The PKK, designated a terrorist group by Turkiye, the US and the European Union, took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984. More than 40,000 people have been killed in the insurgency.
The conflict was long fought mainly in rural areas of southeastern Turkiye but is now more focused on the mountains of northern Iraq’s mountainous, semi-autonomous Kurdistan region.
“One would hope that our neighbors put the necessary stance forward against the threats directed at us from their lands, and we continue this battle jointly,” Erdogan said, according to a text of the in-flight comments published by his office.
“Eliminating this threat is also to the benefit of Iraq. I believe they see this reality and they will now put forth a will for this issue to be removed,” he said, adding he also discussed steps against the PKK during talks in Irbil.
Asked about Iraq’s needs for access to water, Erdogan said Turkiye was not a country with abundant water resources and also had to manage its own needs. He added plans taking into account “changing climate conditions” were needed for the sustainable use of water.
“Therefore, we need to take cautious steps. With evaluations to be held in that direction, it may be possible to find common ground,” he said.
On Monday, the two countries agreed to a strategic framework agreement overseeing security, trade and energy as well as a 10-year deal on the management of water resources that would take Iraq’s needs into account.
Turkiye’s Erdogan says Iraq sees need to eliminate Kurdish PKK militia
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Turkiye’s Erdogan says Iraq sees need to eliminate Kurdish PKK militia
- Ties between the neighbors were entering a new phase after they agreed to cooperate against militants, boost economic ties
- Erdogan visited Iraq for the first time since 2011 following years of tensions as Ankara carried out cross-border attacks on PKK militants based in northern Iraq
Sudan army inches closer to retaking Khartoum
- Shelling by Rapid Support Forces kills six civilians, including two children
OMDURMAN: Shelling by Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces killed six civilians, including two children, in Khartoum’s twin city of Omdurman, a doctor said Monday, as the army inched closer to the capital’s presidential palace.
Sunday’s attack also wounded 36 civilians, half of them children, the doctor at Al-Nao Hospital said.
The bombardment struck residential areas in northern Omdurman, hitting civilians inside their homes and children playing on a football field, the Khartoum regional government’s media office said.
The war between the RSF and the army, which began in April of 2023, has escalated recently, with army forces seeking to reclaim territory lost to the RSF early in the conflict in the capital, Khartoum, and beyond.
The army says its units are now less than a kilometer from the presidential palace, which the RSF seized at the war’s outset. In a video address shared on Telegram on Saturday, RSF commander Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo vowed his troops “will not leave the Republican Palace.”
AFP journalists saw thick plumes of smoke rising over central Khartoum as fighting raged across the capital, with gunfire and explosions heard in several areas.
Nationwide, the conflict has killed tens of thousands, uprooted more than 12 million, and created the world’s largest hunger and displacement crises.
In Khartoum alone, at least 3.5 million people have been forced from their homes due to the violence, according to the UN.
Further southwest, in the North Kordofan state capital of El-Obeid — roughly 400 km from Khartoum — two civilians were killed and 15 others wounded after RSF forces shelled residential neighborhoods on Monday morning, a medical source at the city’s main hospital said.
Last month, the military broke through a nearly two-year RSF siege of the southern city, a key crossroads linking Khartoum to the vast Darfur region, which is under near-total RSF control.
Across North Kordofan, more than 200,000 people are currently displaced, while nearly a million are facing acute food insecurity, according to UN figures.
Clashes have also erupted in Blue Nile state, which borders South Sudan and Ethiopia, and where the RSF claimed Sunday to have destroyed military vehicles and taken prisoners from the army and allied forces.
In almost two years, the war has nearly torn Sudan into two, with the RSF in control of almost all of Darfur in the west and parts of the south, while the army holds the country’s north and east.
The army has made gains in central Sudan and Khartoum in recent months and appears to be on the verge of reclaiming the entire capital.
Algeria rejects French deportation drive in latest row
- Algerian authorities would not accept a list handed over by France in recent days with the names of around 60 Algerians set for deportation
- French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau has said those selected were 'dangerous' or former convicts
ALGIERS: Algeria on Monday opposed a French bid to deport several dozen Algerians, rejecting “threats” and “ultimatums” by Paris as the two countries’ ties came under increasing strain.
The Algerian foreign ministry said in a statement that the authorities would not accept a list handed over by France in recent days with the names of around 60 Algerians set for deportation.
It cited procedural requirements but also said Algeria “categorically rejects threats and intimidation attempts, as well as.... ultimatums.”
In rejecting the French list, Algeria was “solely motivated by the wish to fulfil its duty of consular protection for its citizens” and to ensure “the rights of individuals subject to deportation measures,” the ministry’s statement said.
Hard-line French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau has said those selected for deportation were “dangerous” or former convicts.
Relations between Paris and Algiers have been strained since French President Emmanuel Macron recognized Moroccan sovereignty of the disputed territory of Western Sahara in July last year.
But they have worsened since Algiers refused to accept the return of undocumented Algerian migrants from France.
Retailleau has led verbal attacks on Algeria in the media, fueling tensions between the countries.
In late February, Prime Minister Francois Bayrou warned Paris could revoke a special status given to Algerians in France, the former colonial power.
Macron has since voiced his support for “renegotiating,” though not annulling, the 1968 agreement Bayrou was referring to.
Algeria was a French colony from the mid-19th century until 1962 and for most of that period was considered an integral part of metropolitan France.
On February 28, the French president said that agreements mandating the automatic return of nationals, signed between the two countries in 1994, “must be fully respected.”
In recent months, France has arrested and deported a number of undocumented Algerians on suspicion of inciting violence, only for Algeria to send back one of those expelled.
France warned it could restrict visas as a result, as well as limit development aid.
Algeria’s government has previously criticized Macron for “blatant and unacceptable interference in an internal Algerian affair.”
Israel strikes southern Syria: state media, monitor
- “Israeli occupation jets launch air strikes targeting the surroundings of Daraa city,” said Damascus’s official news agency SANA
- Monitor said Israel targeted military site once belonging to Assad’s army but now used by the forces of Syria’s new authorities
DAMASCUS: Israel struck the area of Syria’s southern city of Daraa, the state news agency SANA reported, with a war monitor saying the latest Israeli attack targeted a military site.
“Israeli occupation jets launch air strikes targeting the surroundings of Daraa city,” said Damascus’s official news agency SANA, without immediately providing further details.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said Israel targeted a military site once belonging to ousted president Bashar Assad’s army but now used by the forces of Syria’s new authorities.
The Britain-based Observatory reported that a fire broke out, with ambulances rushing to the scene amid reports of casualties.
Since Assad’s overthrow in December, Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes in Syria and deployed troops to a UN-patrolled buffer zone on the strategic Golan Heights.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the air force conducted a strike on Damascus on Thursday, with the military saying it had hit a “command center” of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group.
The Observatory reported one fatality in that strike, with SANA saying it targeted a building in the capital.
The Israeli military said the “command center was used to plan and direct terrorist activities by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad” against Israel.
A source in Islamic Jihad said a building belonging to the group had been hit by Israeli jets, adding there were “martyrs and wounded” in the strike.
Ismail Sindawi, Islamic Jihad’s representative in Syria, told AFP the targeted building had been “closed for five years and nobody from the movement frequented it.” Israel was just sending a message, Sindawi said.
Even before Assad’s fall, during the Syrian civil war that broke out in 2011, Israel carried out hundreds of strikes in the country, mainly on government forces and Iranian-linked targets.
Jordan’s FM says Syria’s reconstruction must preserve security, unity
- Ayman Safadi met his Syrian counterpart on the sidelines of an international conference in Brussels
- Ties between Amman and Damascus have improved since the fall of the Assad regime
LONDON: Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi met his Syrian counterpart, Asaad Al-Shaibani, in Brussels on Monday on the sidelines of an international conference to support Syria’s political transformation.
Ties between the neighboring countries have improved since the fall of the Bashar Assad regime in December. Interim president of the Syrian Arab Republic, Ahmad Al-Sharaa, visited Amman in late February.
In Brussels, the ministers discussed the most recent developments in Syria. Safadi said that Jordan supports Syria’s reconstruction on the basis of preserving its security and unity while protecting the rights of Syrians, the Petra agency reported.
On Monday, the EU hosted the ninth international conference to support Syria. Representatives from the new interim government were invited to attend for the first time, including Al-Shaibani.
The event aims to bolster international support for Syria’s transition and recovery following more than 13 years of civil war.
Palestinian detainees ministry warns of virus outbreak in Israeli Megiddo Prison
- 90 percent of prisoners have suffered from diarrhea and vomiting in the past 10 days
- Ministry accuses Israel Prison Service of medical negligence for not providing adequate treatment
LONDON: The Palestinian Authority warned on Monday of a virus outbreak among Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails that could severely affect their health and well-being.
The PA’s Ministry of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs reported that prisoners in Megiddo Prison in northern Israel have been suffering from diarrhea and vomiting in the past 10 days. It reported that nearly 90 percent of the prisoners experienced these issues, and some lost consciousness due to the severity of the illness, particularly among the elderly.
The ministry accused the Israel Prison Service of medical negligence for not providing adequate treatment. Megiddo Prison is the second-largest Israeli prison, following the notorious Negev Desert Prison.
Since October 2023, the ministry has recorded the deaths of 53 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, with the most recent being Moataz Abu Zneid from Dura, south of Hebron, in the occupied West Bank.
By the end of December, Israel had detained 9,619 Palestinians, including 2,216 from the Gaza Strip. However, Tel Aviv released around 600 Palestinians in a ceasefire and captive exchange deal with Hamas in early 2025.
