Turkey's Erdogan in Iraq for rare state visit to discuss water, oil and security

Erdogan was greeted with a 21-gun salute at Baghdad International Airport by Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani, state television showed, with the Iraqi and Turkish national anthems played by a marching band.

The Turkish leader met with Iraqi President Abdel Latif Rashid in Baghdad. He told Rashid that Turkey “has expectations from Iraq regarding the fight against the PKK terrorist organization and that Iraq must be rid of all forms of terrorism,” according to his office.

The PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party), which has been waging an insurgency against the Turkish state for decades and is considered a terrorist group by Ankara and its Western allies, is present in northern Iraq, as is the Turkish army.

Erdogan was also due to meet Soudani, before visiting officials in Erbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdistan region in northern Iraq.

“Iraq and Turkey share a history and have similarities, interests and opportunities, but also problems,” Soudani said at an event at the Atlantic Council on the sidelines of a recent visit to Washington.

“Water and security will be at the top of the agenda,” he said of the upcoming meeting with Erdogan, whose last visit to Iraq was in 2011.

The trip comes as regional tensions rise, fueled by the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip and attacks between Israel and Iran.

Farhad Alaaldin, Sudani's foreign affairs adviser, told AFP that the main topics Erdogan would discuss with Iraqi officials would include “investments, trade… security aspects of cooperation between the two countries, water management and water resources.

Alaaldin hopes for the signing of several memorandums of understanding during the visit.

Sharing water resources is a major point of contention, with Baghdad highly critical of upstream dams installed by Turkey on their shared Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which have worsened Iraq's water shortage.

Erdogan said the water issue would be “one of the most important points” of his visit following “requests” made by the Iraqi side.

“We will make an effort to resolve them, that is also their wish,” he said.

“Strategic agreement”

Iraq's oil exports are another point of tension, with a major pipeline shut for more than a year due to legal disputes and technical problems.

Exports were previously sold independently by the autonomous Kurdistan region, without approval or oversight from the central administration in Baghdad, through the Turkish port of Ceyhan.

The halt in oil sales represents a loss of revenue of more than $14 billion for Iraq, according to an estimate by the Kurdistan Oil Industry Association, which represents international oil companies active in the region.

Majid al-Lajmawi, Iraq's ambassador to Turkey, hopes for “progress on water and energy issues, as well as on the process of resuming Iraqi oil exports via Turkey”, according to a press release issued by the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The ambassador is also awaiting the signing of a “strategic framework agreement” on security, economy and development.

Also on the agenda is a $17 billion road and rail project, known as the “Development Road,” which is expected to consolidate economic ties between the two neighbors.

Stretching 1,200 kilometers (745 miles) across Iraq, it aims to connect the northern border with Turkey to the Gulf in the south by 2030.

In the first quarter of 2024, Iraq was Turkey's fifth-largest importer of goods, purchasing food, chemicals, metals and other products.

“Safeguard the borders”

Regional security is another topic expected to be discussed during Erdogan's meetings in Iraq.

For decades, Turkey has operated from dozens of military bases in northern Iraq against the PKK. Baghdad and the Kurdish regional government have been accused of tolerating Turkey's military activities to preserve their close economic ties.

But these operations, which sometimes take place deep in Iraqi territory, have regularly strained bilateral relations, as Ankara has sought increased cooperation from Baghdad in its fight against the PKK.

However, in a television interview in March, Iraqi Defense Minister Thabet al-Abbasi ruled out any “joint military operation” between Baghdad and Ankara.

He said they would establish an “intelligence coordination center at the appropriate time and place.”

Alaaldin, the Iraqi prime minister's adviser, said security issues will be “highly emphasized during this trip.”

“There will be some kind of agreement… and perhaps arrangements to safeguard the borders between Iraq and Turkey, where no attacks and no armed groups will infiltrate from either side,” he said. he declares.

“It’s something that will be discussed but the exact details need to be worked out.”

(AFP)