Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will visit neighboring Iraq today for his first state visit in years, with the agenda expected to focus on issues related to water, oil and regional security.
Erdogan is scheduled to meet Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and President Abdel Latif Rashid in Baghdad, then visit officials in Arbil, the capital of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region in northern Iraq.
"Iraq and Turkey have a common history and similarities, interests and opportunities, but also problems," Sudani said at an Atlantic Council event during his recent visit to Washington.
"Water and security will be at the top of the agenda," he said of the upcoming meeting with Erdogan, who last visited Iraq in 2011.
The trip comes at a time when tensions in the region are rising, fueled by the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip and attacks between Israel and Iran.
Farhad Alaaldin, Sudanese adviser on foreign affairs, told AFP that the main topics Erdogan would discuss with Iraqi officials included "investment, trade... security aspects of cooperation between the two countries, water management and water resources".
Alaaldin expects several memorandums of understanding to be signed during the visit.
The sharing of water resources is a major contentious issue, with Baghdad strongly criticizing the Turkish-built dams upstream of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers that the two countries share, which have exacerbated Iraq's water shortages.
Erdogan said the issue of water would be "one of the most important points" of his visit following the "requests" made by the Iraqi side.
"We will make an effort to resolve them, this is also their wish," he said.
Iraqi oil exports are another point of tension, as a major pipeline has been shut down for more than a year due to legal disputes and technical problems.
Previously, exports were carried out independently from the Kurdistan Region, without the approval or supervision of the central administration in Baghdad, through the Turkish port of Ceyhan.
The Kurdistan Petroleum Industry Association, which represents international oil companies operating in the region, estimates that the halted oil sales represent more than $14 billion in lost revenue for Iraq.
Majid al-Lajmawi, Iraq's ambassador to Turkey, hoped for "progress on water and energy issues, as well as the process of resuming Iraqi oil exports through Turkey," according to a statement released by the Iraqi foreign ministry. .
The ambassador also expects the signing of a "strategic framework agreement" in the fields of security, economy and development.
Also on the agenda is a $17 billion road and rail project known as the Development Road, which is expected to strengthen economic ties between the two neighboring countries.
Stretching 1,200 km through Iraq, it aims to connect the northern border with Turkey to the Persian Gulf in the south by 2030.
Regional security is another topic expected to be discussed during Erdogan's meetings in Iraq.
For decades, Turkey has operated from several dozen military bases in northern Iraq against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has waged a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state and is considered a "terrorist" organization by Ankara and its Western allies.
Both Baghdad and the Kurdish regional government have been accused of tolerating Turkey's military actions to preserve their close economic ties.
But the operations, which sometimes take place deep inside Iraqi territory, regularly strain bilateral ties as Ankara seeks greater cooperation with Baghdad in its fight against the PKK.
However, in a televised interview in March, Iraqi Defense Minister Tabet al-Abasi ruled out the possibility of "joint military operations" between Baghdad and Ankara.
He said they would establish a "coordinating intelligence center at an appropriate time and place."
Alaaldin, an adviser to the Iraqi prime minister, said security issues would be "strongly advocated during this visit".
"There will be some sort of agreement ... and maybe arrangements to guard the borders between Iraq and Turkey, where there will be no attacks and no armed groups infiltrating the border from either side," he said.
"This is something that will be discussed, but the exact details must be clarified"./BGNES
