On Saturday, January 25, the Spokesperson of Turkiye’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Oncu Keceli, said Turkiye was saddened by the killing of two border guards of the Iraqi Border Forces Command on January 24, and blamed the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) for the attack.

“We extend our condolences to the Iraqi people and wish Allah’s mercy upon the martyred soldiers and a speedy recovery to the soldiers wounded in the attack,” Keceli added.

Minister of Foreign Affairs @HakanFidan met with Fuad Hussein, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iraq, in Baghdad. ???? pic.twitter.com/IbZCNhK9LK

— Turkish MFA (@MFATurkiye) January 26, 2025

The two fallen soldiers have been named as Ali Ramadan Ismail and Mehvan Naji Mir Sharaf.

After the incident, during a press conference on Sunday, January 26 in Baghdad, Turkiye’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Hakan Fidan called on the federal government of Iraq to recognize the PKK as a terrorist organization, reported Hurriyet. 

“PKK is also a major threat to Iraq,” Fidan said.

Read More: Iraq Labels PKK as “Outlawed” Organization in Official Documents

Last year in March, following a high-level security meeting with a Turkish delegation in Baghdad, the Iraqi National Security Council banned the PKK, a move that was welcomed by the Turkish government.

Furthermore, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani on July 23, 2024, ordered all government institutions in an official letter to refer to the PKK as an “outlawed” party in official correspondence.

Turkiye and the PKK have been in a decades-long armed conflict since the 1970s that has killed tens of thousands and left many more injured or displaced.

Read More: Kurdish Question Remains Unresolved: Interior Minister

On April 17, Kurdistan Regional Government Minister of Interior Reber Ahmed underlined that “while the Turkish state and the international community label [the PKK] as ‘terrorists,’ they have not officially been designated as such in Iraq.”

Despite our dissatisfaction with the presence of these armed groups within Iraq and Kurdistan, other nations are free to characterize them as they see fit. Nonetheless, we maintain a distinct perspective on their classification.”