Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has emphasized the "historical significance" of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's recent diplomatic mission to Iraq, particularly in the context of combating terrorism.

Heads of state and government, dozens of foreign ministers, academics and think tanks from across the world will be in Antalya to attend the annual diplomacy forum, which will focus on the role of diplomacy in the age of conflicts.

A Turkish soldier has died as one of the army's helicopters has suffered an accident during a military operation in northern Iraq, the Defense Ministry has announced.

A total of three PKK terrorists have been neutralized in the Operation Claw-Lock and Operation Claw-Lightning zones, the Turkish Defense Ministry has announced.

"Neither northern Iraq nor northern Syria is safe for terrorists. We are determined to eradicate terrorism at its source," the ministry said in a social media post.

A total of 11 PKK terrorists have been neutralized in northern Iraq, the Turkish Defense Ministry and the Turkish National Intelligence Organization (MİT) have announced.

The ministry said that five PKK terrorists were neutralized by the Turkish army in the regions of Claw-Lock and Claw-Tiger operations in northern Iraq.

Two terrorists, one of them Yusif Mehmud Rebani, who is code-named Rezan Cavit and the local leader of the Amuda and al-Darbasiyah regions, east of the Euphrates, have been neutralized by the National Intelligence Organization (MİT).

The MİT carried out the operation in line with the information obtained from the field agents after establishing a special team.

Defense Minister Hulusi Akar has said he met with senior Iraqi and Iraqi-Kurdish officials to discuss Turkey's ongoing fight against the PKK terrorist organization, which had been using the Iraqi territories since the late 1980s.

Turkey has said it will lend necessary support to Iraq in its efforts to clear the country from the PKK ahead of a key visit by Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi to Ankara where improving cooperation in the fields of economy and security will be the main course of talks.

Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani on July 2 called President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to congratulate him and his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) for the election victory. 

If there is no last-minute backtrack, the Iraqi Kurds will vote in a referendum on independence in two weeks. It is a move that will drastically shake all regional balances in the already unstable Middle East.