Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will visit Iraq on Sunday for talks with officials on fighting Kurdish militants, security issues, and bilateral ties, Reuters quoted a Turkish diplomatic source as saying.

The source said Fidan will meet with Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid, Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein, and other Iraqi officials during the visit, adding that he will repeat Ankara's expectations of Iraq to declare the PKK a terrorist organization and remove it from its lands.

Fidan will emphasize the need for countries in the region to “act together against Kurdish attempts to ‘gain legitimacy and ground under their feet,’ the source said, while bilateral ties and trade will also be on the agenda.

Ties between the neighboring countries have been strained in recent years due to Ankara's cross-border military operations against Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants based in the mountainous areas of northern Iraq.

However, they have improved since Baghdad declared the group a “banned organization” last year and the countries agreed to hold high-level security talks.