Turkey’s Erdogan in Iraq to push for reset of ties, cooperation against PKK
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Erdogan and Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani oversaw the signing of a four-way memorandum of understanding between Turkey, Iraq, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates for joint cooperation on Iraq’s $17 billion Development Road project, with Qatari and Emirati ministers in attendance.
Item 1 of 5 Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan attend a welcoming ceremony at Baghdad International Airport, in Baghdad, Iraq April 22, 2024. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani/Pool
[1/5]Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan attend a welcoming ceremony at Baghdad International Airport, in Baghdad, Iraq April 22, 2024. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani/Pool Purchase Licensing Rights
Launched last year, the 1,200-km (745-mile) road and rail project aims to turn Iraq into a transit hub, connecting Asia and Europe with a link between Iraq’s Grand Faw Port in the oil-rich south and Turkey in the north.
WATER
Baghdad is also seeking a deal to secure a larger share of water from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, both of which originate in Turkey and are the main source of freshwater in drought-stricken Iraq.
Rashid told Erdogan that Iraq was entitled to its “fair share” of that water, the Iraqi presidency said.
Iraqi and Turkish officials said more than 20 memorandums of understanding would be signed during Erdogan’s one-day visit.
Bilateral trade was worth $19.9 billion in 2023, down from $24.2 billion in 2022, according to official Turkish data. In the first three months of 2024, Turkish exports to Iraq rose by 24.5%, while imports fell by 46.2%.
After meetings in Baghdad, Erdogan was set to travel to Erbil, the provincial capital of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, for talks with Iraqi Kurdish officials.
The PKK took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984 and more than 40,000 people have been killed since then.
Since 2019, Turkey has conducted a series of cross-border operations in northern Iraq against the PKK dubbed “Claw”.
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Reporting by Timour Azhari in Beirut, Ahmed Rasheed in Baghdad, Can Sezer in Istanbul and Tuvan Gumrucku in Ankara; Writing by Timour Azhari; editing by Gareth Jones and Mark Heinrich
