Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is set to visit the Kurdistan Region and Iraq next week for talks with senior officials from both sides.
According to the Turkish newspaper the Daily Sabah, Erdogan will arrive in Baghdad on April 22 for his first official visit to Iraq in 12 years.
Although it has not yet been officially announced, Erdogan is also expected to visit the Kurdistan Region to meet with senior officials.
The main issues of discussion will be Turkey’s battle against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Turkey’s Development Road Project with Iraq, solutions to the neighboring countries’ water issue, increasing trade, exports of oil from the Kurdistan Region, and investments from Turkish companies in Iraq.
The main goal of Iraqi officials in the upcoming visit will be to secure more water rights from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, especially considering the central and southern regions of Iraq in recent years have experienced a depletion of water in both rivers, damaging agriculture.
Erdogan’s visit comes at a time when the Turkish army is preparing to expand its operations in the Kurdistan Region against the PKK, and according to Turkish officials, Iraq has expressed a readiness for further coordination with Ankara, especially after the Iraqi National Security Agency declared the PKK a banned and illegal organization.
In recent months, Erdogan, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, and Defense Minister Yasar Guler have repeatedly said they will expand operations against the PKK in the Kurdistan Region this summer and strengthen their military bases.
Erdogan previously visited Iraq and the Kurdistan Region as prime minister and this will be his first visit as president.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani has arrived in the United States for a two-day visit and is scheduled to meet with President Joe Biden.
Erdogan is scheduled to meet with Biden in the US on May 9.
Several Turkish presidents have visited Iraq over the past 70 years. On February 13, 1955, Turkish President Celal Bayar visited Baghdad to discuss security issues.
Thirteen years later, on April 27, 1968, Cevdet Sunay visited Baghdad on the official invitation of Iraqi President Abdul Rahman Arif.
On April 26, 1975, at the invitation of Iraqi President Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr, Turkish President Fahri Koruturk visited Baghdad, Mosul, Kirkuk, and Basra.
No Turkish president visited Iraq during Saddam Hussein’s rule.
After the fall of the Baathist regime, on April 23, 2009, former Turkish President Abdullah Gul visited Baghdad at the invitation of former Iraqi President Jalal Talabani. Gul did not visit other cities due to security concerns.
