“Both sides described the peace process in Türkiye as important and historic, emphasizing the need to work toward advancing it,” read a statement from the Kurdistan Region Presidency.
There are renewed hopes in Turkey for an end to four decades of a conflict that has killed more than 40,000 people and spilled over international borders. Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan in February called on his group to lay down arms and disband. The PKK subsequently announced a unilateral ceasefire but has accused Turkey of continuing to carry out attacks.
The PKK’s headquarters are based in the Kurdistan Region’s mountains.
In the latest development, a delegation of pro-Kurdish lawmakers from the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party that has been mediating between imprisoned Ocalan and Turkish parties, met last week with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Barzani and Guler also discussed “Türkiye’s relations with Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, as well as their joint cooperation in maintaining peace and stability in the region,” the presidency’s statement added.
Turkey is an important trading partner for Erbil, especially for its oil exports that have been stalled for two years. The exports through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline were suspended in March 2023 following a ruling by a Paris-based arbitration court, which sided with Baghdad that Ankara violated a 1973 pipeline agreement by permitting Erbil to export oil independently starting in 2014.
Prior to the suspension, Erbil was exporting approximately 400,000 barrels of oil per day via the Iraq-Turkey pipeline, in addition to around 75,000 barrels of oil from Kirkuk.
Negotiations between Erbil, Baghdad, and oil producers to resume the exports are ongoing.
Barzani also met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Antalya on Friday.
