With relations gaining momentum with the go to of the Turkish International Minister to Iraq, Baghdad is wanting ahead to advancing them. Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of International Affairs Fuad Hussein spoke to Anadolu Company (AA) on the sidelines of the 78th session of the U.N. Basic Meeting in New York on numerous points, together with vitality, safety and struggle towards the PKK terrorist group.
Hussein mentioned Türkiye and Iraq have to cooperate extra in some areas, particularly safety points, noting {that a} go to by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan would assist advance ties between the 2 nations.
“Now we have a multidimensional relation with Türkiye. We’re actually desirous to have President Erdogan in Baghdad and Iraq typically. It has been some time since he was in Iraq, I feel it was three years in the past. So the relation between either side is nice. And I feel his go to will push this relation additional and can advance ties between each the nations. So we count on loads from his go to,” he mentioned. Hussein mentioned although relations had been good, there have been some “points,” however the sides ought to cope with them collectively. “We want extra cooperation on some points, particularly on safety points,” he mentioned.
On vitality cooperation and the problem of oil switch via Türkiye, Hussein mentioned that it affected relations, however they had been decided to discover a answer to the problem via dialogue and communication.
Türkiye suspended Iraq’s 450,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil exports via the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline on March 25 after an arbitration ruling by the Worldwide Chamber of Commerce (ICC). The ICC ordered Ankara to pay Baghdad damages price $1.5 billion over what it mentioned had been unauthorized exports by the Kurdistan Regional Authorities (KRG) between 2014 and 2018. Türkiye, however, mentioned the ICC had acknowledged most of Ankara’s calls for. Its Vitality Ministry mentioned the chamber ordered Iraq to compensate Türkiye for a number of violations in regards to the case. A number of high-level talks between Türkiye and Iraq have been held since final week, however negotiations haven’t yielded outcomes.
On the problem of the PKK terrorist group, which has hideouts in Iraq’s north and efforts to render it ineffective, Hussein said that the Iraqi structure didn’t enable any group to function on Iraqi soil towards some other nation. They’d a “clear place” on the problem, including that it was, nonetheless, “very difficult.” Responding to the query of why Iraq didn’t designate PKK as a terrorist group, the minister downplayed it and mentioned what mattered extra was the best way to clear up the issue whereas defending the safety of Türkiye and the sovereignty of Iraq on the similar time. “I feel, via negotiations, we will attain an settlement (to unravel this downside),” he mentioned.
