ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani on Thursday met with Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during an official visit to Ankara, where the two leaders discussed a wide array of pressing matters and oversaw the signing of 10 memoranda of understandings (MoUs) across various fields.

The Iraqi prime minister arrived in Ankara on Thursday, where he was received by Turkey’s Minister of Trade Omer Bolat, before attending an interview arranged by Turkey’s state-owned media outlet Anadolu Agency, where he voiced his aspiration “for Turkish-Iraqi relations to be part of the equation for regional stability.”

Sudani was then received in an “official reception ceremony” by Erdogan at the Turkish Presidential Palace in Ankara. The pair then proceeded to oversee the fourth High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council meeting between Iraq and Turkey, before conducting a “bilateral meeting.”

During a joint presser with Sudani, Erdogan stressed his country’s commitment to Iraq’s peace and stability. “We have never kept the peace and stability of Iraq separate from our country, and we do not,” he said.

The Turkish leader also underlined the importance of the multi-billion dollar Development Road project “to the stability and prosperity of both Iraq and our entire region.”

Additionally, Erdogan stressed Turkey’s wishes “to progress rapidly on topics such as the resumption of oil shipments through the Iraq-Turkey oil pipeline,” referring to the currently-halted oil exports from the Kurdistan Region.

Sudani for his part, reaffirmed Iraq’s “firm position that the security of Iraq and Turkey is one,” reiterating that they will not allow anyone to use Iraqi territories for assaults on neighboring countries, adding that Baghdad supports the disarmament of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

In July 2024, Iraq announced that the label “banned” will be attached to any mention of the PKK in all affairs of state, months after a high-level meeting between Ankara and Baghdad led the Iraqi side to officially criminalize the group.

The pair “presided over the signing ceremony of 10 memoranda of understanding between Iraq and Turkey in several fields,” according to a statement by Sudani’s office, including the sectors of security, education, and justice.

The meeting also witnessed discussions around the situation in Gaza, combating terrorism, human and drug trafficking, support for the “stability and political transition” of Syria, as well as "ways to further implement the agreements previously signed between the two sides in April 2024," according to the Iraqi prime minister's office.

The two sides signed 24 MoUs back in April 2024 during a visit by the Turkish president to Iraq, with a particular emphasis on water projects, in an attempt to address Iraq’s shortages of clean water and diminishing marshlands.

Sudani last met Erdogan in November in Istanbul, just two months after the two met on the sidelines of the 79th United Nations General Assembly in New York, discussing Baghdad-Ankara ties and regional security.