Türkiye’s expectations from the meeting of the High Security Cooperation Committee with Iraq

According to the international group Tasnim News Agency, the visit of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Fawad Hossein Iraq and Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, within the framework of the Ukraine Peace Summit in Burgenstock, Switzerland, received widespread coverage in the Turkish media. Because in the meeting of the Turkish Foreign Ministers, a new agreement was reached to hold a meeting of the Permanent Joint High Political and Security Committee, and it seems that the Turks are using all their tools and facilities to gain new privileges in the development of the relationship with Iraq. /p>

According to the information published by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey, in the meeting of Fawad Hossein and Hakan Fidan in Switzerland, it was agreed that a bilateral meeting of the High Committee for Political and Security Cooperation will be held in Ankara in August, and the team of three The Turkish security team consisting of Ibrahim Kalen, the head of the Met Intelligence Service, Hakan Fidan, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and General Yashar Güler, the Minister of Defense, expect to get help from the Iraqi government military to attack the positions of the PKK. 

Another goal of the upcoming meeting between Fidan and Hossein in Ankara is to review and follow up on the agreements reached during the April visit of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Baghdad.

Turkey’s totalitarian view of Iraq
The evidence shows that in Turkey’s political and diplomatic approach to Iraq, there are high expectations and expectations from the Baghdad government. , but Ankara itself is not willing to do something special in the direction of the demands of the Sudanese Shia government.

For example, Turkey still intends to use water as a pressure lever, while the Iraqi officials openly have announced that the construction of dams and the restrictions imposed by Turkey on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers have put several Iraqi provinces in a difficult situation. It has introduced Professor “Visel Eroglu” as a diplomat with full powers regarding the water dispute between Turkey and Iraq. But now it has become clear that Turkey expects Vissel Eroglu to set the task for Iraq’s water policies in practice.
Another important issue in Turkey-Iraq relations is the issue of oil exports. Turkey has already been sentenced to pay monetary damages to Baghdad in an international court for the illegal sale of Iraqi oil. Because for a long time, by signing an illegal agreement with the leaders of the Kurdistan Region, he exported Iraqi oil to the world markets at a lower price than the usual rate. But the protests against the Iraqi government did its job and now the transfer of oil has been stopped for a long time. However, Recep Tayyip Erdogan did not go under the burden of paying monetary damages to Iraq and expects that Baghdad or This fine should be waived or the authorities of the Kurdistan Region should transfer the fine to Baghdad’s account. As a result, this totalitarian and self-interested view has made it difficult for the continuation of oil relations between Turkey and Iraq. Political and economic analysts believe that during the transfer of Iraqi oil to Turkey, all financial information These transactions were only in the hands of Nichirvan Barzani and Recep Tayyip Erdogan and were free of any clear legal arrangements. As a result, the Iraqi central government will only be satisfied with the re-transfer of oil if two important events occur. give:
1. Turkey should pay its damages.
2. The new agreement should be based on the supervision and direct role of the Iraqi government. 

Baghdad authorities have announced that a preliminary understanding has been reached to continue the transfer of oil, but there are still uncertainties about the legal arrangements, how much the transfer will be, and some uncertainties about the transfer party.

Turkey and the “Development Path Project”
During the visit of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Baghdad on April 22, 26 cooperation agreements in the fields of combating Terrorism, trade, agriculture, energy, water, education, health and transportation were signed. At the same time, with the presence of diplomatic representatives of Qatar and the United Arab Emirates as two financiers, about the implementation of ” “Development Path” project, new agreements were reached. This is the same project that is defined as a huge transportation and infrastructure project to connect Iraq to the Mediterranean and Europe based on the ideas of Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani, and it is supposed to bring the large port of Faw in the Persian Gulf from the north of Iraq to Turkey. and from there to Bandar Mersin in the south of Turkey and on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea.

It is supposed to include 1200 kilometers of railway and highway infrastructure. This project is supposed to be connected to the Turkish railway network through a route that includes the cities of Basra, Baghdad and Mosul. With this ambitious economic corridor project and an investment budget of 17 billion dollars, it will be possible to transport goods within a few hours with trains at a speed of 300 kilometers per hour.

Turkey hopes that with this project as An alternative shipping line would compete with critical waterways such as the Suez Canal, the Strait of Bab al-Mandab, and the Strait of Hormuz. But the visionary attitude of the Iraqi authorities is to pave the way for extensive cooperation between Beijing and Baghdad. As a result of Erdoğan’s ambitious claim that Turkey’s role is effective and prominent, it is not as critical as the role of China and Iraq in a realistic view. The economy casts a shadow on this country and financing will be with the two rich countries of Qatar and the UAE. 

Middle East Studies Think Tank (ORSAM), as one of the research centers under the ruling party of Turkey, announced in an official analysis that there are some security threats for the implementation of the development path project and to address Turkey’s concerns about the dangers of ISIS and PKK. , is very important and it is still not clear whether the parties can solve this problem in the short term or not. 

Hakan Fidan and Fawad Hossein have planned to hold a high-level meeting of political and security cooperation, while in the previous meeting of the security officials of the parties in Baghdad, the dangers of terror were announced as a common threat, and the central government of Baghdad, P. He considered KKK as a group whose activities are prohibited in Iraq. 

Turkey-Iraq bilateral trade reaching 20 billion dollars in 2023 is an important economic event, although its balance with exports of 12.8 billion dollars was in Turkey’s favor. In addition, by the end of 2023, the total income of Turkish contractors in Iraq is 34.3 billion dollars. Tasnim/Uploaded/Image/1403/03/28/140303281801378930328474.jpg”/>
In the end, it should be said that the development of political and economic relations between Turkey and Iraq has brought great benefits to Ankara. But so far, in addition to the issues related to the Kurdistan Region and Turkey’s movements in Dohuk, Sulaymaniyah and Sinjar, some of the behaviors of the Erdogan government regarding the Turkmens of Iraq have also been biased and interventionist, and it seems that Turkey, despite the rich benefits it receives from Iraq achieved, it still does not fully consider Iraq’s national sovereignty and concerns.

end of message/