“Both sides commended the strength of Iraq’s and Kurdistan Region’s relations with Turkiye, while also emphasizing the importance of further enhancing these relations and promoting greater cooperation, particularly in the areas of trade and economy,” said a statement from Barzani’s office on his meeting with Ambassador Ali Riza Guney.
According to the statement, Guney “reaffirmed his country’s willingness to support oil exports from the Kurdistan Region” in the meeting, and President Barzani thanked the ambassador for Ankara’s support in the ongoing technical discussions to resume exports.
Exports of the Kurdistan Region’s oil through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline have been halted since March 23 when a Paris-based arbitration court ruled in favor of Baghdad against Ankara, saying Turkey had breached a 1973 agreement by allowing Erbil to begin independent oil exports in 2014.
There have been several meetings between Turkish, Iraqi, and Kurdish officials since March, but exports have yet to resume. Prior to the halt, around 400,000 barrels a day were being exported by Erbil through Ankara, in addition to some 75,000 barrels of Kirkuk’s oil.
The loss in oil revenues has worsened the financial situation and left the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) unable to pay its public sector without assistance from Baghdad. The two governments, however, cannot agree on the Kurdistan Region’s financial entitlements.
During an August meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in Erbil, President Barzani said that Ankara and Erbil are bound together through shared economic and security interests and thanked Turkey for assistance and support to the Kurdistan Region “across all sectors and especially during hard times.”
