Media: Erdogan’s visit to Iraq postponed due to disagreements
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to Iraq has been postponed indefinitely due to unresolved disputes between the two countries. An Iraqi government source told Shafaq News that the reason for the delay relates to disagreements on several key issues.
The main issue from Turkey’s point of view is the presence of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Iraq. The Turkish side wanted to focus the visit solely on discussing this topic and trade. Erdogan has no plans to address more complex issues such as the distribution of water resources and the re-export of oil from Iraqi Kurdistan through the Turkish port of Ceyhan.
In March of this year, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani visited Turkey to discuss a number of issues, including border security, mutual intelligence cooperation and information sharing, and water and energy resources. Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan followed this up with a visit to Iraq last month as part of efforts to resolve the disputes.
Disputes between the two countries also affect oil exports from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Turkey suspended those exports in late March following an International Court of Justice ruling that Ankara must pay $1.5 billion in compensation to Baghdad for unauthorized oil exports between 2014 and 2018. In April, Iraq asked a US federal court to enforce the decision.
In response, the Turkish government set a condition for resuming oil exports: to abandon the demand for compensation. Ankara also filed a lawsuit against Baghdad, demanding compensation of more than $900 million. This mutual lawsuit has added a new layer of complexity to relations between the two countries and appears to have influenced the decision to postpone President Erdogan’s visit.
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