Middle East
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wave as he board before his departure for Iraq on April 22, 2024. Photo: AA
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is set to visit the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Monday for meetings with top officials and discussions regarding a variety of subjects, before heading towards Erbil in what will mark the first visit of a Turkish president to the Kurdistan Region while in office.
Erdogan said on Friday that during his visit to Baghdad he will meet Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani and President Abdul Latif Rashid. He will also travel to Erbil and is set to meet with Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani, Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, and Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) leader Masoud Barzani.
Kurdish oil exports, water issues, border security, and the Development Road, a multi-billion dollar road and rail project stretching from southern Iraq to the border with Turkey, are the main topics expected to be discussed during Erdogan’s visit.
“Turkey is an important country in the region, and one of the four regional powers. The entirety of the Iraq-Turkey border is in Kurdistan Region, therefore spending time in the Kurdistan Region is important for both of us. Resolving the outstanding issues and strengthening relations with Turkey can only be done through dialogue and diplomacy,” Saadi Ahmed Pira, spokesperson for the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) politburo, told Rudaw of Erdogan’s visit.
The Turkish president is set to head a delegation of at least eight ministers. Ankara expects to sign over 20 agreements with the Iraqi and Kurdish sides during the trip, according to Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.
Shwan Rabar, member of the Kurdistan Justice Group (Komal) political council, said that Erdogan’s visit to the Kurdistan Region implies that Ankara-Erbil relations remain strong, expressing hope that the trip benefits the Kurdistan Region.
“The Kurdistan Region is not in a situation to complicate its relations with its neighbors,” said Hoshyar Omar, head of the Change Movement's (Gorran) office for diplomatic relations, referring to the Turkish delegation’s visit to the Kurdistan Region as “important”.
Oil exports from the Kurdistan Region through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline have been halted since March 2023 after a Paris-based arbitration court ruled in favor of Baghdad that Ankara had breached a 1973 pipeline agreement by allowing Erbil to begin independent oil exports in 2014.
Despite several talks between Kurdish, Iraqi, and Turkish officials, the exports have yet to resume and many international oil companies have suspended production. Billions of dollars in revenue have been lost.
Border security and the presence of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the mountainous areas of the Kurdistan Region are also expected to be discussed.
Turkey is one of the top 20 largest economies in the world, and a member of G20.The country's gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by 4.5 percent in 2023.
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