Türkiye, Iraq to Hold New Round of Security Talks in Ankara, Source Says 

Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani (R) and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan give a joint statement to the media in Baghdad, Iraq, April 22, 2024. (Reuters)
Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani (R) and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan give a joint statement to the media in Baghdad, Iraq, April 22, 2024. (Reuters)
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Türkiye, Iraq to Hold New Round of Security Talks in Ankara, Source Says 

Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani (R) and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan give a joint statement to the media in Baghdad, Iraq, April 22, 2024. (Reuters)
Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani (R) and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan give a joint statement to the media in Baghdad, Iraq, April 22, 2024. (Reuters)

Senior Turkish and Iraqi officials will hold high-level talks in Ankara on Thursday to develop cooperation on security issues, a Turkish diplomatic source said on Wednesday.

The neighbors have in recent years been at loggerheads over Ankara's cross-border military operations against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants based in northern Iraq's mountainous region.

Iraq has said the operations are a violation of its sovereignty, but Ankara says they are needed to protect itself.

Ties have improved since last year, when the two sides agreed to hold high-level talks on security matters, and after a visit in April by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Baghdad, where he said relations had entered a new phase.

Ankara and Baghdad have so far held three rounds of meetings as part of the dialogue mechanism, with Iraq deciding to label the PKK a "banned organization in Iraq" during the latest talks held in March -- a move welcomed by Türkiye.

The Turkish source said Thursday's encounter would mark the first meeting of a "Joint Planning Group", which was decided during Erdogan's trip and is headed by the respective foreign ministers.

Talks would also take place to put their cooperation within an institutional and sustainable framework, the source added, saying the delegations would discuss the implementation of 27 agreements signed during Erdogan's visit, and evaluate further joint initiatives.

On Monday, Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler told Reuters that the recent steps taken by Türkiye and Iraq in terms of counter-terrorism marked a "turning point", adding the technical work on establishing a joint operations center for the region was ongoing.

Guler also said Türkiye’s cross-border operations in northern Iraq would continue until "the name of terror is wiped out from this region", adding that Ankara expected Baghdad to label the PKK a terrorist organization as soon as possible.

The PKK, which has been waging an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984, is designated a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the United States and the European Union. More than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict.



UN Official: Lebanon Displacement 'Devastating', Support Insufficient

Displaced people sit in a makeshift tent set up on Beirut's seaside promenade - AFP
Displaced people sit in a makeshift tent set up on Beirut's seaside promenade - AFP
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UN Official: Lebanon Displacement 'Devastating', Support Insufficient

Displaced people sit in a makeshift tent set up on Beirut's seaside promenade - AFP
Displaced people sit in a makeshift tent set up on Beirut's seaside promenade - AFP

The displacement of hundreds of thousands of people in Lebanon is "devastating", a UN migration official has said, warning international support was falling short of the needs, amid intense Israeli bombing.

After a year of cross-border fire between Israel and Hezbollah, which launched attacks on Israel in support of its ally Hamas in Gaza, Israel last month escalated attacks in Lebanon's south, east and south Beirut.

The war has killed hundreds of people in Lebanon and displaced more than one million others, most of them since September 23, according to Lebanese authorities.

"With this wave of displacement, we see huge needs... the situation is devastating," said Othman Belbeisi, the International Organization for Migration's Middle East and North Africa director.

"Lebanon needs more support. What has been offered so far is minimal and does not match the needs," he told AFP on Thursday during a visit to Beirut.

The IOM has "verified and tracked" some 690,000 internally displaced people in Lebanon, Belbeisi said, noting about 400,000 others had reportedly fled the country, many of them for neighbouring Syria.

Around a quarter of the displaced in Lebanon, or more than 185,00 people, are in official shelters such as schools, according to the IOM.

Around another a quarter have rented accommodation, while some 47 percent are living in "host settings", the IOM said.

- Aid appeal -

Many people are staying with relatives, while some with nowhere to go are sleeping on the streets.

"It's really sad to see this (displacement) again in Lebanon," Belbeisi said, in a country that endured a 1975-90 civil war and a monthlong conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006.

People have fled their homes "with nothing, out of fear, and now they have to rebuild everything once again", he added, as smoke rose from Israeli airstrikes in the city's southern suburbs.

The UN has appealed for $426 million to address the humanitarian crisis in the country over the next three months, including $32 million for the IOM to assist some 400,000 people, Belbeisi said.

UN humanitarian agency OCHA said Friday the appeal was just 12 percent funded, with $51 million received.

Lebanon has been enduring a five-year economic crisis that has impoverished many and crippled government services.

"We hope that everybody will be able to scale up their capacity," Belbeisi said.

"We want this (displacement) to end as soon as possible," he added.