Turkiye, Iraq strengthen ties amid regional challenges

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani, right, and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan attend a welcoming ceremony at Baghdad International Airport, in Baghdad on April 22, 2024. (Reuters)
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Updated 22 April 2024
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Turkiye, Iraq strengthen ties amid regional challenges

  • Baghdad’s acquiescence to backing Ankara’s fight against PKK will likely determine extent of cooperation on other thorny issues such as water and oil, analyst says
  • Senior officials in Ankara have recently hinted at plans for a major military operation against the PKK in northern Iraq this summer

ANKARA: As Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan paid a much-anticipated visit to Iraq on Monday, the first in 12 years, the two countries are expected to deepen security and economic cooperation while seeking ways to promote regional stability.

Erdogan’s delegation includes the country’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya, Defense Minister Yasar Guler, Communications Director Fahrettin Altun, his Chief Adviser Akif Cagatay Kilic and other ministers.

The president’s itinerary includes key meetings with his Iraqi counterpart Dr. Abdullatif Rashid before talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani.

In the afternoon, Erdogan was to meet with Kurdish officials in the Kurdistan Regional Government’s capital Irbil.

Experts say the visit will mark a positive shift in Turkish-Iraqi relations.

Addressing Iraqi concerns over water resources and signing strategic agreements on security, energy, trade, transportation, and health are also expected to lay the framework for future avenues of cooperation.

Water supply has become a sticking point in recent years, with Baghdad demanding more water from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers — two main rivers that flow from Turkiye to the Arabian Gulf and account for more than 90 percent of Iraq’s freshwater resources.

In his meetings with Iraqi and Kurdish officials, Erdogan is seeking support for counter-terrorism efforts by jointly tackling the threat posed by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party or PKK.

Dr. Bilgay Duman, coordinator of Iraq studies at the Ankara-based ORSAM think tank, said Turkiye’s aim with the visit was not to outdo any regional player, Iran or otherwise.

He told Arab News that Ankara “wants to create a regional dynamic given the current tension between Israel and Iran, the regional crises in the Red Sea, and the lack of a solution in Syria, which have necessitated some bilateral cooperation with Baghdad and Irbil.”

Berkay Mandiraci, a senior Turkiye analyst at the International Crisis Group, says a key question will be how Baghdad will support Turkiye’s campaign against the PKK.

Last month, Iraq’s National Security Council declared the PKK an outlawed organization in Iraq, signaling a growing willingness by the Iraqi authorities to fight the terrorist group. But now, the focus is on how Iraq can limit the PKK’s mobility on its territory.

Fidan, the foreign minister, and intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin visited Baghdad last month. 

“As Turkiye, we will work for the stability of Iraq,” Fidan said recently.

“We don’t want Iraq to be associated with internal conflicts.”

For Mandiraci, Baghdad’s acquiescence to backing Turkiye’s fight against the PKK will likely determine the extent of cooperation on other thorny issues such as water and oil.

A series of operations launched by Ankara since 2019 succeeded in pushing the PKK from the northern mountainous regions to Iraq’s southern urban areas, such as Kirkuk, Sinjar and Sulaymaniyah.

“The PKK began to confront the Iraqi central authority while also posing a greater threat to Baghdad. But Iraq has no such experience in confronting the terrorist group on a large scale. That is why it needs to cooperate with Ankara in developing measures and increasing the capacity of its armed forces to fight the PKK more actively. Baghdad is striving to become a state that has full control over internal threats by suppressing the factors of instability,” Duman said.

However, bilateral cooperation should not be limited to the joint fight against the PKK, as it will encompass a broader agenda for regional development.

During the talks, the Turkiye-Iraq Development Road project, which will stretch some 1,200 km and aims to link Iraq’s nascent Grand Faw port to Turkiye’s southern border and then to Europe via railways and highways, also featured on the agenda as it opens a new page in Ankara-Baghdad relations.

According to Duman, Turkiye could propose enlisting the support of the UAE and Qatar in this project by preparing a four-way agreement and actively participating in creating industrial cities and trade centers along this route. This would boost economic dynamism and undermine instability factors by creating wealth.

Turkiye has significantly increased its exports to Iraq this year, with sales rising by nearly $691.5 million from January to March.

Baghdad and Ankara “share an interest in the progress of the Development Road project. As a new trade route, it could play a significant role in stabilizing Iraq in the longer term and bring important economic dividends to both countries,” Mandiraci said.

But he added that building the project would not be easy, with Iran worried about its territory being bypassed.

“And Iran could play spoiler,” Mandiraci said, adding: “It will require careful and multi-vector diplomacy to reduce and manage the security and geopolitical risks associated with the initiative.” 

During his visit, Erdogan planned to meet with the President of the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government Nechirvan Barzani, while talks were also expected with officials of the Iraqi Turkmen Front and Turkmen community leaders.

Through this visit, Duman said that Turkiye would mediate between Irbil and Baghdad on many fronts, as consensus between the two is crucial in the fight against the PKK and in the continuation of the Development Road project, as security must be restored in the regions crossed by the road. 

Senior officials in Ankara have recently hinted at plans for a major military operation against the PKK in northern Iraq this summer. 

Turkiye is also seeking to establish a 30-40 km security corridor along its border with Iraq and to supplement it with military installations in coordination with Baghdad. 

“For Turkiye, Irbil and Baghdad are not alternatives but complementary,” Duman said.

“During this visit, I expect a joint large-scale operation between Turkiye and Baghdad to eradicate the PKK’s presence in the region to be discussed. But such a joint effort is not limited to the military struggle because, at the same time, the PKK is trying to gain a foothold through civilian formations based in Iraq.

“As its military reach shrinks, it tries to infiltrate the civil and political sphere. Iraq and Irbil may try to deepen cooperation with Turkiye in this area.”


Battle for Khartoum wrecks key Sudan oil refinery

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Battle for Khartoum wrecks key Sudan oil refinery

Al-Jaili refinery, some 70 kilometers north of Khartoum, was captured by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces
“Some units have been completely destroyed and are now out of service,” the refinery’s deputy director, Sirajuddin Muhammad, told AFP

AL-JAILI, Sudan: The once-pristine white oil tanks of Sudan’s largest refinery have been blackened by nearly two years of devastating war, leaving the country heavily dependent on fuel imports it can ill afford.
The Chinese-built Al-Jaili refinery, some 70 kilometers (45 miles) north of Khartoum, was captured by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), just days after fighting with the regular army erupted in April 2023.
For months, artillery exchanges battered the facility, forcing a complete shutdown in July 2023.
The regular army finally recaptured the refinery in January as part of a wider offensive to retake greater Khartoum but operations remain at a standstill, with vast sections of the plant lying in ruins.
Towering storage tanks, which once gleamed under the sun, are now cloaked in soot and the ground is littered with twisted pipes and pools of leaked oil.
“Some units have been completely destroyed and are now out of service,” the refinery’s deputy director, Sirajuddin Muhammad, told AFP. “Other sections need to be entirely replaced.”
Before the war, Al-Jaili processed up to 100,000 barrels per day of crude, meeting nearly half of Sudan’s fuel needs.
“The refinery was crucial for Sudan, covering 50 percent of the country’s petrol needs, 40 percent of its diesel and 50 percent of its cooking gas,” economist Khalid el-Tigani told AFP.
“With its closure, Sudan has been forced to rely on imports to fill the gap, with fuel now being brought in by the private sector using foreign currency.”
And hard currency is in desperately short supply in Sudan after the deepening conflict between Sudan’s rival generals uprooted more than 12 million people, devastating the nation’s economy.
The Sudanese pound now trades at around 2,400 to the dollar, compared to 600 before the war, leaving imported goods beyond the means of most people.
During the army’s recapture of the refinery in January, what remained of it was gutted by a massive fire.
The RSF blamed the blaze on “barrel bombs” dropped by the air force.
The regular army accused the RSF of deliberately torching it in a “desperate attempt to destroy the country’s infrastructure.”
An AFP team visited the refinery under military escort on Tuesday. Burnt out vehicles lined the roadside as the convoy passed through abandoned neighborhoods.
As the refinery grew nearer, the blackened skeletons of storage tanks loomed in the distance and the acrid smell of burnt oil grew stronger.
The control rooms, where engineers once monitored operations, had been completely gutted.
Pools of water left over from the firefighting effort in January had yet to drain away.
Built in two phases, in 2000 and 2006, the plant cost $2.7 billion to build, with China taking the lead role.
Beijing still retains a 10 percent stake, while the Sudanese state controls the remaining 90 percent.
Refinery officials estimate it will cost at least $1.3 billion to get the refinery working again.
“Some parts must be manufactured in their country of origin, which determines the timeline of repairs,” Muhammad said.
An engineer at the refinery, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said that even if Sudan secured the necessary financing, “it would still take at least three years to get this place running again.”
The discovery of large domestic oil reserves in the 1970s and 1980s transformed the Sudanese economy.
But when South Sudan seceded in 2011, the fledgling nation took with it about three-quarters of the formerly united country’s oil output.
South Sudan remains dependent on Sudanese pipelines to export its oil, paying transit fees to the rump country that are one of its few remaining sources of hard currency.
But the war has put that arrangement at risk.
In February last year, the pipeline used to export South Sudanese oil through Port Sudan on the country’s Red Sea coast was knocked out by fighting between the army and the RSF.
Exports were halted for nearly a year, resuming only in January.

German foreign minister on Syria visit reopens Damascus embassy

Updated 17 min 6 sec ago
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German foreign minister on Syria visit reopens Damascus embassy

  • Baerbock reopened the mission on her second visit there since the fall of president Bashar Assad over three months ago
  • “The horrific outbreaks of violence two weeks ago have caused a massive loss of trust,” said Baerbock

DAMASCUS: Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock officially reopened her country’s embassy in war-ravaged Syrian Arab Republic during a one-day visit to Damascus on Thursday.
Baerbock reopened the mission, which closed in 2012 amid the Syrian civil war, on her second visit there since the fall of president Bashar Assad over three months ago.
Her trip also came weeks after sectarian massacres claimed more than 1,500 lives on Syria’s Mediterranean coast — the heartland of Assad’s Alawite minority.
“The horrific outbreaks of violence two weeks ago have caused a massive loss of trust,” said Baerbock. “The targeted killing of civilians is a terrible crime.”
She called on the transitional government of interim president Ahmed Al-Sharaa to “control the actions of the groups within its own ranks and hold those responsible accountable.”
But she stressed that “we want to support the Syrians together with our European partners and the United Nations” as they rebuild their country.
Germany on Monday announced 300 million euros ($325 million) for reconstruction aid in Syria, as part of a donor conference that gathered total pledges of 5.8 billion euros.
A German foreign ministry source said Berlin had officially reopened its embassy in Syria, with an initially small diplomatic team working in Damascus.
Consular affairs and visas would continue to be handled from the Lebanese capital Beirut for practical reasons and due to the security situation in Syria.
The ministry source said that “Germany has a paramount interest in a stable Syria. We can better contribute to the difficult task of stabilization on the ground.
“We can build important diplomatic contacts and thus, among other things, push for an inclusive political transition process that takes into account the interests of all population groups.”
The source added that “with our diplomats on the ground, we can now also once again engage in important work with civil society. And we can respond directly and immediately to serious negative developments.”
Baerbock in her statement warned Syria’s interim authorities that a “new start” with Europe was conditional on it delivering security to all Syrians, regardless of faith, gender or ethnicity.
She said many Syrians “are scared that life in the future Syria will not be safe for all Syrians.”
In the days after March 6, Syria’s coast was gripped by the worst wave of violence since Assad’s overthrow.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, security forces and allied groups killed more than 1,500 civilians, most of them Alawites, the minority to which Assad belongs.
Since Assad’s overthrow, Israel has launched hundreds of strikes on military sites in Syria, arguing the weapons must not fall into the hands of the new authorities whom it considers jihadists, and deployed troops to a UN-patrolled buffer zone on the Golan Heights.
Baerbock said “the influence of foreign actors has brought nothing but chaos to Syria in the past.”
“Even today, attacks on Syrian territory threaten the country’s stability. All sides are called upon to exercise maximum military restraint and not to torpedo the intra-Syrian unification process.”


Turkiye detains 37 over ‘provocative’ social media posts following arrest of Istanbul mayor

Updated 20 March 2025
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Turkiye detains 37 over ‘provocative’ social media posts following arrest of Istanbul mayor

  • Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said authorities identified 261 social media accounts that shared provocative posts inciting public hatred or crime
  • Imamoglu’s arrest came just days before he was expected to be nominated as the opposition Republican People’s Party’s presidential candidate

ISTANBUL: Turkish authorities detained 37 people for sharing “provocative” content on social media, the interior minister said Thursday, pressing ahead with a crackdown on dissenting voices that escalated with the arrest of the mayor of Istanbul, a potential challenger to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was arrested after a dawn raid on his residence on Wednesday as part of investigations into alleged corruption and terror links. Several other prominent figures, including two district mayors, were also detained.
The detention of a popular opposition leader and key Erdogan rival deepened concerns over democracy and sparked protests in Istanbul and elsewhere, despite a four-day ban on demonstrations in the city and road closures. On Thursday, hundreds of university students held a peaceful march in Istanbul to protest the detentions.
It also caused a shockwave in the financial market, triggering temporary halts in trading to prevent panic selling.
Critics see the crackdown as an effort by Erdogan to extend his more then two-decade rule following significant losses by the ruling party in local elections last year. Government officials reject claims that legal actions against opposition figures are politically motivated and insist that the courts operate independently.
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said authorities identified 261 social media accounts that shared provocative posts inciting public hatred or crime, including 62 that are run by people based abroad. At least 37 of the suspected owners were detained and efforts to detain other suspects were continuing, he wrote on the X social media platform.
Imamoglu’s arrest came just days before he was expected to be nominated as the opposition Republican People’s Party’s presidential candidate in a primary scheduled for Sunday. The party’s leader has said the primary will go ahead as planned.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed concern over the mayor’s detention, saying it was a “very, very bad sign” for Turkiye’s relations with the European Union.
Scholz said it was “depressing for democracy in Turkiye, but certainly also depressing for the relationship between Europe and Turkiye.”
“We can only call for this to end immediately and for opposition and government to stand in competition with each other, and not the opposition being brought to court,” he said.
Prosecutors accused Imamoglu of exploiting his position for financial gain, including the improper allocation of government contracts.
In a separate investigation, prosecutors also accuse Imamoglu of aiding the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, by allegedly forming an alliance with Kurdish groups for the Istanbul municipal elections. The PKK, behind a decades-long insurgency in Turkiye, is designated a terrorist organization by Ankara, Washington and other allies.
It was not clear when authorities would begin questioning the mayor, who can be detained without charges for up to four days. Analysts say Imamoglu could be removed from office and replaced by a “trustee mayor” if he is formally charged with links to the PKK.
Before his detention, Imamoglu already faced multiple criminal cases that could result in prison sentences and a political ban. He is also appealing a 2022 conviction for insulting members of Turkiye’s Supreme Electoral Council, a case that could result in a political ban.
This week, a university nullified his diploma, citing alleged irregularities in his 1990 transfer from a private university in northern Cyprus to its business faculty, a decision Imamoglu said he would challenge. The decision effectively bars him from running for president, since the position requires candidates to be university graduates.
Imamoglu was elected mayor of Turkiye’s largest city in March 2019, a historic blow to Erdogan and the president’s Justice and Development Party, which had controlled Istanbul for a quarter-century. Erdogan’s party pushed to void the municipal election results in the city of 16 million, alleging irregularities.
The challenge resulted in a repeat of the election a few months later, which Imamoglu also won. The mayor retained his seat following local elections last year, during which his party made significant gains against Erdogan’s governing party.


UK bomb disposal expert injured in Gaza blast

Updated 20 March 2025
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UK bomb disposal expert injured in Gaza blast

  • Ordnance ‘fired at or dropped on’ UN facility, killing 1, injuring 4 others
  • Mines Advisory Group: ‘Attacks against humanitarian premises are a breach of international law’

LONDON: A bomb disposal expert from the UK has been injured in an explosion in Gaza.

The unnamed 51-year-old was wounded at a UN facility in Deir Al-Balah on Wednesday. Four others were injured and a UN worker was killed in the incident.

The Briton, who was working in Gaza as an explosive ordnance disposal expert for the Mines Advisory Group, was treated locally before being moved to a hospital in Israel.

Darren Cormack, the charity’s CEO, told the BBC that the man was conducting an explosive hazards assessment at a UN Office for Project Services facility when the explosion occurred.

“The UN has confirmed that today’s incident did not occur in the course of normal EOD operations and resulted from ordnance being fired at or dropped on the building in which the team was working,” Cormack said.

“It is shocking that a humanitarian facility should be subject to attacks of this nature and that humanitarian workers are being killed and injured in the line of duty.”

Cormack added: “Attacks against humanitarian premises are a breach of international law.”

Health authorities in Gaza said the explosion was a result of Israeli military activity.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein posted on X: “The circumstances of the incident are being investigated. We emphasize that the initial examination found no connection to IDF (Israel Defense Forces) activity whatsoever.”

Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for the UN secretary-general, told the BBC: “We are making it clear that all military operations have to be conducted in a way that ensures that all civilians are respected and protected.”

UNOPS chief Jorge Moreira da Silva said the explosion was “not an accident” and described the situation in Gaza as “unconscionable.”


Putin offers cooperation to Syrian leader, backs efforts to stabilize country

Updated 20 March 2025
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Putin offers cooperation to Syrian leader, backs efforts to stabilize country

  • Russia, which has two strategically important military bases in Syria, was one of the main supporters of former President Bashar Assad

MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin has sent a message to Syria’s interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa supporting efforts to stabilize the situation in the country and saying Russia is ready to engage in “practical cooperation,” Russian state news agency TASS reported on Thursday.
Putin confirmed “Russia’s continuing readiness to develop practical cooperation with the Syrian leadership on the whole range of issues on the bilateral agenda in order to strengthen traditionally friendly Russian-Syrian relations,” it quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying.
Syria has been rocked by a wave of sectarian killings. The Kremlin
said
earlier this month it wanted to see a united and “friendly” Syria because instability there could affect the whole of the Middle East.
Russia, which has two strategically important military bases in Syria, was one of the main supporters of former President Bashar Assad, who fled to Russia after he was toppled in December.