Turkey’s security pact with Iraq: Which side came out on top?

On Aug. 15, the same day the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) marked the 40th anniversary of its war against the Turkish state, the Turkish government signed what was widely hailed as a historic security and military cooperation agreement with Baghdad that is meant to deal a heavy blow to the PKK rebels' presence in Iraq.

Turkey’s foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, declared that it carried “historic importance” when announcing the accord together with his Iraqi counterpart, Fuad Hussein, in Ankara last week. Hussein said it was “the first in the history of Iraq and Turkey” in this field. However, opinion remains sharply divided on the significance and substance of the agreement, the latest in a series of accords that coincided with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s formal visit in April to Baghdad, his first in 14 years. Which side came out on top? It depends on who you ask.

Article 1 of the agreement, the full Arabic-language text of which was first leaked to the Iraqi Kurdish news organization Rudaw, states that its purpose is to address “the security concerns” of both parties and that the “main goal” is to “eliminate the threats posed by terrorists and proscribed organizations against the sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of both parties.”

Article 2, one of its most critical, as per the text published in Rudaw, asserts that “Turkey’s military presence on the territories of Iraq” will end, but without providing a timeline for the withdrawal of Turkish forces estimated to be in the thousands that are deployed across northern Iraq.