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Turkeys foreign policy regarding Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has been guided by a wide range of factors. Ankara not only shares a border with Iraq, but also common water sources, mutual concerns and common stakes. Needless to say, Iraq occupies a critical place in the Turkish foreign policy agenda.Turkeys Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, along with his entourage, this week paid a visit to first Baghdad and later Irbil. He had a busy agenda. In Baghdad, he came together with senior Iraqi officials, including President Barham Salih, Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, Defense Minister Jouma Anad, and Interior Minister Othman Al-Ghanimi. While in Irbil, he met with KRG Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, former President Masoud Barzani, and current President Nechirvan Barzani.Combating terrorism was the main focus of the talks, as well as cooperation between Turkey and Iraq/the KRG. The Ankara-Baghdad and Ankara-Irbil cooperation will pave the way for important developments in fighting terrorism in the coming period, according to Akar. While stating that key successes have been achieved against Daesh in Iraq, he expressed his belief that the parties would gain further important successes in fighting other terror groups.Turkeys foreign policy toward Iraq is mostly shaped and directed by the threat posed by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Akar reiterated Turkeys plan to eliminate this threat through unity and solidarity to ensure border security and peace with its neighbors. Ankara has become aware that its traditional security-oriented approach to the PKK, without a correlation with regional actors, cannot achieve success. The PKK, which is designated a terrorist organization by the US, the EU and Turkey, among others, has long used the Qandil Mountains in northern Iraq, which are just across the border from Turkey, as a shelter. The Turkish army, which regularly conducts cross-border operations in northern Iraq, has targeted the PKKs positions in the Qandil and Sinjar mountains, as well as other locations where the group has a presence.Akar pointed out that Iraqi, Turkish and Kurdish officials should strengthen their cooperation and take a decisive stand against the PKK, while his main reference point was the Sinjar area. The PKK managed to establish a foothold in Sinjar in mid-2014 under the pretext of protecting the local Yazidi community from Daesh. Since then, it has reportedly established a new base for its activities in Sinjar.Last October, Iraq and the KRG reached an agreement to restore and normalize the situation in Sinjar district. The deal was widely welcomed by local and international actors. Turkey also expressed its hope that the deal would enable the reinstatement of Iraqi authorities control over Sinjar and lead to the eradication of Daesh and PKK from the region. Akar this week reportedly discussed the possibility of a joint military operation in Sinjar with Baghdad and Irbil. It was possible to read this from between the lines in Akars statements. We can say that we are determined to wipe out the terrorists as a result of our cooperation with both the regional administration and Baghdad, he said.Several reports claimed that the Irbil-Baghdad deal on governance and security in Sinjar has not been implemented properly, and that Al-Hashd Al-Shaabi and the PKK still have a presence there. Baghdad is already losing patience with the PKKs presence in Iraq and the issues it causes in its ties with Ankara. In recent months, there has also been increasing discomfort in the KRG regarding the PKK, particularly after the Sinjar deal was signed. Al-Monitor last month reported that the KRG had formally asked the US to deploy observers to patrol its border with the Kurdish-controlled northeast of Syria, where US-backed groups have been dominant since 2012.

Ankaras foreign policy toward Iraq is mostly shaped and directed by the threat posed by the PKK.

Sinem Cengiz

Another aspect of Akars trip was the bilateral relations between the KRG and Turkey, particularly in regard to economic cooperation, such as trade and investment. Energy and construction have been the key elements of Turkeys economic pivot to Iraq and the KRG. However, this area is not without competitors. Turkey last month lost out on a major construction bid to a French company. Ankara has recently been at odds with Paris over influence in the Middle East and North Africa region. The French ADP Group won the contract to renovate Mosul International Airport a project Turkey had been eagerly eyeing since 2019 as part of its ambitious plans to be heavily involved in the reconstruction of Iraq following its liberation from Daesh. Turkey, the biggest donor with its $5 billion loans and investments pledge at the 2018 Kuwait conference, was planning to play a major role in Iraqs reconstruction process through several projects, such as the renovation of Mosul and Kirkuk airports.Turkey is wrestling for a presence in Iraq and its northern Kurdish region in political, economic and security terms.

Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in this section are their own and do not necessarily reflect Arab News' point-of-view

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Turkey keen to expand its links with Iraq and KRG - Arab News

Iraqi political analyst Firas Al-Amiri expressed concerns about the activation of a plan to divide Iraq in the wake of Joe Biden's presidency.

"If this plan is implemented, it will have serious consequences for Iraq and the region," he said.

"The Americans have violated all diplomatic norms in Iraq," Al-Amiri said, adding that the US embassy in Baghdad has become a major military base.

He stressed that the policies of the former US president caused a lot of damage to Iraq, at the top of which is the obstruction of the implementation of the Iraqi- Chinese agreement.

"Ending the American presence in Iraq will not be easy and requires an integrated decision," he said.

"We should not be content with just passing a resolution in the Iraqi parliament to expel American troops from Iraq," he said.

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Iraqi analyst worries over Joe Biden's plan to partition Iraq - Mehr News Agency - English Version

The Kurdish community in Iraqs autonomous Kurdish region says that the numbers of suicides are increasing, particularly in refugee camps full of Kurdish Yazidis.

In the last two weeks, there have been 11 suicides in the autonomous Kurdish region of Iraq, the Kurdish community (KDG) in Gieen, Germany, told the Catholic news agency KNA on Monday.

The most affected group are young Yazidis, mostly residing in refugee camps in Kurdish region of northern Iraq, says KDG. The community thinks that the suicides are linked to the difficult conditions in which many refugees in the camp are living; the lack of perspective for the future, and economic and social problems.

On top of all that, the coronavirus pandemic has hit these communities particularly hard, reported KNA.

The KDG has called on the international community to provide more support for these vulnerable groups.

At the moment a psychologist who is famous for working with the Yazidi community in Germany, Jan Ilhan Kizilhan, is researching the potential causes for the increase in suicides. Kizilhan heads up the Institute for Transcultural Health Research Institute at Baden-Wrttemberg Cooperative State University Villingen-Schwenningen (Dualen Hochschule Baden-Wrttemberg.)

The Yazidi community was persecuted in 2014 by the terror group Islamic State (IS) who call Yazidis unbelievers, because of their alternative way of practicing their form of the Muslim faith. According to the UN, at least 5,000 Yazidis were killed in the massacre on Mount Sinjar, with many women and girls raped and or subjected to sexual and economic slavery.

The KDG has criticized the government of the autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq for not having done enough to meet the Yazidi refugee needs in their area. According to KNA, more than 100,000 Yazidis currently reside in northern Iraq. Germany took in around 1,000 Yazidis under a special relocation program in 2014.

With KNA

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Kurdish community in Iraq says suicides on the rise - InfoMigrants

United Nations Secretary-General Antnio Guterres today announced the appointment of Ingibjrg Slrn Gsladttir of Iceland as his new Deputy Special Representative for Political Affairs and Electoral Assistance of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI).

Ms. Gsladttir succeeds Alice Walpole of the United Kingdom, who will complete her assignment end February 2021. The Secretary-General is grateful to Ms. Walpole for her dedicated service since 2017 to the United Nations in Iraq.

Ms. Gsladttir brings a wealth of diplomatic and political experience to the position, including from her recent role as Director of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and most recently as the Head of its Election Observation Mission in Ukraine. She also served as UN Womens Regional Director in Europe and Central Asia and its Country Representative in Turkey and Afghanistan. She was Icelands Foreign Affairs Minister from 2007 to 2009, member of Parliament for seven years, and Mayor of Reykjavk for nine years. She is a member of the Nordic Womens Mediators Network.

Ms. Gsladttir holds a bachelors degree in history and literature from the University of Iceland and did post-graduate studies in history at the University of Copenhagen.

New York, 15 January 2021

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Secretary-General appoints Ms. Ingibjrg Slrn Gsladttir of Iceland as Deputy Special Representative for Iraq - Iraq - ReliefWeb

Jan 15, 2021

Three years after Iraq officially declared victory over the Islamic State (IS),a new batch of over 3,000 of those displaced by the terror group have returned to their homes from Salamiyah camp in Ninevah governorate.The development is part ofIraq's Ministry of Migration and Displacement plan to close this camp and others, the ministryannounced Jan. 9. The ministry is planning to close all the displacementcamps across Iraq this year.

This is the first government to create a comprehensive plan to bringthe displaced persons back to their areas of origin, saidMinister of Migration and Displacement Ivan Faiek Jabru, one of three female ministers in Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimis government.

We accepted the responsibility to seriously implement this strategy, she told Al-Monitor, pointing out that previous ministries had focusedonly on distributing food rations and providing health services. There were neither voluntary return effortsnor campclosures, and not even support to refugees abroad, she added.

Over the past six months, more than 66,600 internally displaced persons(IDPs) have returned to their homes.

Out of 76 displacementcamps before the formation of this government, only 29 camps are still open, saidJabru.Still, we increased the food rations to ensure food security and to cope with the impact of the coronaviruspandemic.

Ninevahs Salamiya camp and Anbars Amiriyat Fallujah camp will be shut down within days.

We still need time to solve security and tribal problems for Jadaah camp, to the south of Mosul, Jabru noted. As for the Kurdistan Regions camps, we are about to conduct a special visit to coordinate an effort to close 10 campsin the first phase [of closures]." The minister emphasized that no one will beforced to go back home.

However,there was a great deal of criticism from IDPs and relief workersthat thedisplaced are beingforced to return home orto move to other camps.Theyalso criticize the government fornot ensuring necessary safeguards for their return.

The governmentdenies the accusations.

It is 100% voluntary return, confirmed Jabru.We worked hard to remove the obstacles bycreatingasuitable environment,reconstructing their houses, providing job opportunities, holding national reconciliation workshopsand establishingincome-generating projects.

After he fled his hometown of al-Qaimon the borderwith Syriato Turkey in 2014, Omar al-Tai's relatives and neighbors sought refuge in displacementcamps inside Iraq.

Most of my relatives in al-Qaim and Rummana voluntarily came back to their homes,the 27-year-old teacher told Al-Monitor. Still, some are struggling financially. Their areas are safe now and the camps should be closed. But some want to stay there due to the lack of services, jobsorplaces to live.

Ahmed al-Ghurairi, a representative of the International Rescue Committees protection program who works in western Anbar,criticized the move.Some were forced to leave the camps recently, hetold Al-Monitor.Especially the families from al-Qaim. Most of them have neither homes nor jobs; the infrastructure is destroyed and the economy is in a deplorable state.

Mustafa,a displaced man who lives and works inHabbaniyah displacement camp and gave a pseudonym for security reasons, told Al-Monitor,About 100 families cannot go back home and might be forced to leave or move to Amiriyat Fallujah camp. Although the Habbaniyah camp was officially declared closed in November 2020, over 200 families still remain since they have nowhere else to go.

However, Jabru deniedthe useof force in returning the displaced to their homes. She told Al-Monitor that if families do not want to return home for any reason,we do not force them at all. She said that if a given camp only has a few families remaining, it may ask them to move to another camp to maintain the quality of service provided to them."

The governmenthopes to ensure the return of all IDPs, some of whom have lived for six years in camps withpoor educational and health services, andfaced abuse.

We implemented sustainable solutions to bring the people back and guarantee their welfare while we continue providing relief for them, Jabru said. We have distributed 300 flats in Maysan governorate, in the southeast of Iraq, for displaced families;restored 1,600 houses in Anbar and Ninevah;built 490 caravans to house displaced families;and built 41 other caravans as makeshift schools in Ninevah and Diyala in the past six months."

The ministry hasresumed issuingapprovalstoallowpeople to return to their hometowns intense areaslike Sinjar and Jurf al-Sakhar,after working to prevent the releaseof former IS members.

"The approvals to return home needed to cross various checkpoints took around 20 days to obtain,Qahtan Shaqqo, a young Yazidi man who returned to Sinjar six months ago from a camp in Dahuk, told Al-Monitor.

As of 2019, more than250,000 Iraqiswere awaiting asylumin neighboring countries.Due to the scope of this problem,Jabruhas focusedthe ministrys effortson helping refugees whoseasylum applications wererejected toreturn home.

Over the past three months, 800 citizens have returned fromTurkeyand Europe, she said.We havegranted379 land plots to some of these refugees along with a repatriation allocation of 4million Iraqi dinars [$2,740]eachto encourage them to come back.

Another13,000 internally displaced familieswere granted funding of1.5 million Iraqi dinars ($1,025) each, Jabru noted.Shaqqoand Taiare hoping to obtain these grants, saying some of their acquaintances alreadyhave.

Most of the people in Ramadi got those grants, said Tai.However,those inthe regions to the west of Anbar havent got them yet, including my father.We havent been compensated for the damage doneby aerial bombardments on our house and brand-new car. We have lost almost everything.

While many IDPslike Fahad Sultan, a Muslim Kurd who returned to his village on the outskirts of Sinjar after six years in Dahuk,hopedto resume normal life, they encountered unemployment, destroyed cities and infrastructure, tribal conflicts and unexploded ordnance.

Ghurairisaid that IS militants have recentlydestroyed transmission towersin al-Qaim.Some familieslivebelow the poverty line, andfamilies who depend on femalebreadwinnersare prone to exploitation, he explained.

The Migration and Displacement Ministry acknowledgesthese challengesandexpresses determinationto continue the effortsto resolve these obstacles.

We are organizing visits to the Kurdistan Region to facilitate the rapid return of families, Jabru concluded.The same goes for Jurf al-Sakhar, due to the areas unstable security situation and thepresence ofunexploded ordnance. It is difficult for families to return at the present time.

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Iraq makes major progress in closing camps for the displaced - Al-Monitor