Erdoğan’s landmark visit to Iraq

|
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s recent visit to Iraq could mark the beginning of a new …
  • Under the strategic framework agreement for joint cooperation, which the two countries inked in Baghdad, their bilateral relations have been elevated to the level of strategic partnership with a “qualitative leap.” The Turkish and Iraqi governments created a road map for future cooperation. Their commitment to solving problems and elevating their cooperation to the highest level rests on the “win-win” principle. Accordingly, the Turkish delegation, which included eight Cabinet ministers, focused on a broad range of issues, including counterterrorism, cross-border waters, security, the defense industry, trade, health care, communication, education, energy and transportation.
  • President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan paid an official one-day visit to Iraq on Monday. He was accompanied by a large delegation, including Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya, Defense Minister Yaşar Güler, Trade Minister Ömer Bolat, Energy Minister Alpaslan Bayraktar, Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure Abdülkadir Uraloğlu, Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Ibrahim Yumaklı and Minister of Industry and Technology Fatih Kacır. Many high-ranking Turkish officials also accompanied President Erdoğan.
  • What happened? Who are the attackers? What was the goal of the attack? How is Türkiye combating DHKP-C? What does this mean for the future?

Bu Konuda Daha Fazla

  • Traditionally, Türkiye-Iran relations have been defined by a mix of competition and cooperation. Sharing a long land border and possessing a multidimensional historical depth, numerous dynamics simultaneously affect the relationship between the two countries.

  • Against the backdrop of Israel's massacre in Gaza, attention has been shifting to Iran. Following the bombardment of the Houthis by the United States and the United Kingdom for disrupting commercial shipping in the Red Sea, Iran and Pakistan experienced an escalation, with both sides firing missiles over terrorism. Moreover, Israel killed five members of the Revolutionary Guards Corps in Damascus last weekend, resuming its past operations against the Iranian presence in Syria. The seeming purpose of such strikes is to stop Iran from sending military aid to the Axis of Resistance – namely Hezbollah and Hamas. More important, however, is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's commitment to ensuring the Israeli-Palestinian conflict's regionwide spillover – which contradicts the Biden administration.

  • A series of attacks and clashes sent shockwaves through the Middle East over the last week. Israel's massacres in Gaza and low-intensity conflict with Hezbollah at the Lebanese border remain underway. Meanwhile, in the Red Sea, the United States and Britain bombed Yemen's Houthis for the fourth time on Thursday. Washington also relisted the Houthis as a global terrorist group.

  • The recent developments in the Middle East region have led to a deepening instability, with the possibility of conflict increasing day by day. In 2023, we witnessed a period of relative normalization in the Middle East. While countries in the region were trying to minimize the potential for conflict, they had come a long way in developing common potential.

  • Parliament returned from recess on Tuesday to debate the PKK’s terror attacks. The PKK carried out suicide attacks against the Turkish forces in northern Iraq on Dec. 22 and Jan. 12, claiming 21 lives. That development fueled a multifaceted debate in Türkiye.