Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is due in neighbouring Iraq for his first state visit there in years, with water, oil and regional security issues expected to top the agenda. Erdogan is scheduled to meet with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani and President Abdel Latif Rashid in Baghdad before visiting officials in Arbil, the capital of northern Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan Region. “Iraq and Turkey share a history and have similarities, interests and opportunities, but also problems,” Sudani said during 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, who last visited Iraq in 2011. The trip comes as regional tensions spiral, fuelled by the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip and attacks between Israel and Iran. Farhad Alaaldin, foreign affairs adviser to Sudani, told that the main topics Erdogan will discuss with Iraqi officials include “investments, trade… security aspects of the cooperation between the two countries, water management and water resources”. The sharing of water resources is a major point of contention, with Baghdad highly critical of upstream dams set up by Turkey on their shared Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which have worsened water scarcity in Iraq.

Erdogan said the issue of water 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. Iraqi oil exports are another point of tension, with a major pipeline shut down for over a year over legal disputes and technical issues. The exports were previously independently sold by the autonomous Kurdistan region, without the approval or oversight of the central administration in Baghdad, through the Turkish port of Ceyhan. The halted oil sales represent more than $14 billion in lost revenue for Iraq, according to an estimate by the Association of the Petroleum Industry of Kurdistan which represents international oil companies active in the region. Majid al-Lajmawi, Iraq’s ambassador to Turkey, hopes for “progress on the water and energy issues, and in the process of resuming Iraqi oil exports via Turkey”, according to a statement published by the Iraqi foreign ministry. The ambassador also expects the signing of a “strategic framework agreement” on security, economy and development.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan