The Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan began a visit to Iraq on Monday, his first in more than a decade, aimed at redefining relations between the two neighboring countries by striking a series of deals covering cooperation against Kurdish PKK militants, energy and trade.

His long-awaited visit is the first by a Turkish leader since 2011 and follows years of volatile relations as Ankara has stepped up cross-border operations against Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants based in mountainous northern Iraq, where they mostly live Kurds.

Iraq has declared that such operations violate its sovereignty and claim civilian lives, but Turkey says it is defending itself against the PKK, which it, the US and others have labeled a terrorist organization.

Turkey is planning a new offensive against Kurdish militants this spring and has sought Iraq’s military cooperation in the form of a joint operations room, as well as recognition by Baghdad that the PKK poses a threat to Turkey.

Cooperation on major financial programs is also on the table.

Iraq last year began a $17 billion Development Road program that seeks to turn the country into a transit hub linking Asia and Europe.

Baghdad is also seeking an agreement to secure greater share of waters than the Tigris and Euphrates, (the Tigris originates in Armenia, the Euphrates originates in Turkey) and are the main source of fresh water for drought-plagued Iraq.

Iraqi and Turkish officials said more than 20 memoranda of understanding would be signed during Erdogan’s one-day visit.

Bilateral trade to drop to $19.9 billion in 2023; from 24.2 billion in 2022, according to official Turkish data. In the first three months of 2024, exports to Iraq increased by 24.5%, while imports decreased by 46.2%.

“The visit comes after nearly a year of preparations by both sides to address long-standing issues that have complicated the relationship in the past,” said Farhad Aladdin, an adviser to Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani on foreign affairs.

Erdogan meets with Sudani and President Abdul Latif Rashid in Baghdad and then travels to Arbil, the provincial capital of the semi-autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan region, to meet with Iraqi Kurdistan officials.