https://arab.news/4cyeu
Iraq is set to hold parliamentary elections next Tuesday. Ahead of this high-stakes vote, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan paid a visit to Iraq and met with the president and senior officials. During his visit, Ankara and Baghdad signed a water cooperation deal aimed at resolving long-standing water management issues between the two neighbors.
Turkiye and Iraq have built positive momentum in their relations during Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani’s tenure, anchored in a series of high-level visits and a flurry of agreements. Al-Sudani visited Ankara in May to reciprocate President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to Baghdad last year, which was his first since 2011. These visits turned a page in their relationship and resulted in about 40 agreements on diverse areas of cooperation.
During Al-Sudani’s time as prime minister, Turkish-Iraqi relations have transformed from a security-oriented perspective dominated by issues of border security, Turkiye’s conflict with Kurdish militants and water resource management to a multidimensional relationship that integrates economic and developmental aspects. This approach has also transformed the Turkish narrative toward Iraq from a problematic neighbor that should be contained to a key actor that should be placed at the center of its foreign policy strategy.
