ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The war in Syria and fear it might spill across borders appears to be driving Baghdad and Ankara to mend ties, although the two remain on opposite ends in the conflict.
"Our relations had deteriorated in the past two years but it is now time to turn a new page," Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told reporters in Ankara on Thursday. "There are still some issues, but there is no problem that can't be solved.”
Zebari will be hosting his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu in Baghdad, in what will be the first such visit to the Iraqi capital in close to three years.
Ties between Baghdad and Ankara deteriorated since Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki began his second term in office in 2010, growing worse after the eruption of the war in Syria the following year.
Maliki and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, fail to see eye-to-eye on several issues, only one of which is the Syrian war. Baghdad remains vehemently opposed to Turkish oil investments in the autonomous Kurdish Region in northern Iraq, where Turkey is the number one trading partner.
Ankara and Baghdad remain on polar ends in the Syrian civil war, which began with a popular uprising in 2011 against President Bashar Assad.
While Erdogan has been the main supporter of Syrian opposition groups and has called for Assad’s removal, Maliki has condemned the Syrian rebels and opened Iraqi territory for Iranian military help to the Damascus regime.
Maliki has accused Turkey of meddling in Iraq's domestic affairs, especially since Turkey gave shelter to the former Iraqi vice president, Tariq al-Hashimi, who fled Iraq in December 2011 after surprising threats of arrest on murder charges.
"We, more than any other country are under the impact of the Syrian situation," Davutoglu said during Zebari’s visit.
Meanwhile, diplomatic and trade relations between the Kurdistan Region and Turkey are at new highs, with annual trade of about $10 billion. A major oil pipeline – under construction despite Baghdad’s opposition -- will mark another milestone in Erbil-Ankara relations.
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