The Turkish Minister of Defense announces an agreement with Iraq to establish a Joint Operations Center

Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler announced that his country and Iraq have taken a decision to establish a joint operations center between the two countries. Guler said in a press statement: 'We will continue to work together to see what we can do. After that, the responsibilities of the joint center will become clear.' The Turkish Defense Minister's statements come after a visit made by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday, Monday, to the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, accompanied by a high-level ministerial delegation. Erdogan had met his Iraqi counterpart, Abdul Latif Rashid, and Prime Minister Muhammad Shiaa Al-Sudani, and the visit included the signing of a series of bilateral agreements, in addition to dealing with the security file and combating terrorism. Regarding the confidence-building measures meetings between Turkey and Greece, Guler stated that "the meetings are positive and take place in mutual good faith." Turkey and Greece held a new round of confidence-building meetings in the c apital, Athens, the day before yesterday, attended by Ambassadors and high-level military officials. Regarding the developments in the process of purchasing F-16 aircraft from the United States, Guler said: 'We are conducting our contacts and will reveal all our positions soon.' Turkey intends to purchase 40 F-16 aircraft from the United States, and modernize its aircraft of the same model in the Turkish army fleet, but the issue faced some obstacles in the US Congress, according to Turkish sources./End Source: National Iraqi News Agency