By Hoshmand Othman
Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyib Erdogan’s visit to Washington, last week, comes following a series of political developments in Middle East, implicating Turkey as a major regional player.
Talks have primarily been focused on developments in the Syrian conflict, but Iran’s nuclear issue, Israeli Palestinian question, Iraq's elections, security and bilateral political and economic ties were also discussed, as stated in a joint press conference between President Obama and the Turkish prime minister at the White House.
However, reference to the issue of energy supply within the region made by Erdogan as being part of the talks makes believe that Turkish close cooperation with Iraqi Kurdistan Regional government (KRG) in the field of oil and gas was also part of the discussions.
It is possible to assume that these interconnected political issues, discussed in Washington, may have also been subjects of bargaining, particularly in areas where differences have noticeably emerged in the past several months.
The US needs Turkey's vital support to convince the Syrian opposition to accept Bashar Al-Assad’s representatives to attend the forthcoming international gathering on Syria, which the US believes that it could alter the course of the conflict.
The US needs Turkey's vital support to convince the Syrian opposition to accept Bashar Al-Assad’s representatives to attend the forthcoming international gathering on Syria, 
President Obama told reporters “Turkey is going to play an important role as we bring together representatives of the regime and the opposition together in the coming weeks. We both agree that Assad needs to go. He needs to transfer power to a transitional body … I do think that the prospect of talks in Geneva, involving the Russians and representatives [of both sides] about a serious political transition that all parties combined to, may yield results”.
It is also important for the United States to break the ice and help to restore relations between Turkey and Israel, both US allies, who are at odds since Israeli naval forces have attacked a Turkish boat taking humanitarian aid to Gaza, killing eleven Turks in 2011. Restoring relations between Tel Aviv and Ankara is important for the US for that, among others, Turkey maintains a balance between the Israelis and Palestinians, particularly in the eve of a momentous forthcoming visit by Erdogan to Gaza and the West bank, scheduled to take place in June.
However, the growing close cooperation in the field of energy between Ankara and Iraqi Kurdistan regional capital, Erbil, has been an area of difference between Washington and Ankara. The US has repeatedly expressed its concern to both sides and warned them against any attempts of oil export from Kurdistan to Turkey. Although this issue was not evoked during the press conference, it may well have been a subject of negotiation during both leaders’ talks.
The only information which came out from the meeting was from the Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Taner Yildiz, who reportedly said that the Turkish delegation reiterated to President Obama that the oil deals with the KRG are legal and made in respect to the Iraqi federal Constitution.
Turkey has repeatedly reaffirmed that it is keen to honour its agreement with KRG regarding oil and gas exploration and their exports to Turkey and possibly to the world market.
Turkey openly manoeuvres to become the regional hub for energy supply from Middle East, Caucasus and Central Asia to European and international markets.
As a message to Washington that Turkey is eager to pursue its cooperation with the Kurds, Erdogan confirmed to reporters at Ankara airport before leaving to the US on May 14th, that the state oil company, Turkish Petroleum, TPAO, has reached agreement to partner with the KRG and Exxon Mobil for oil exploration in Iraqi Kurdistan Region; another step further in the Kurdish Turkish energy cooperation.
No US official statements were made about this issue during Erdogan’s visit to Washington, but it is very likely that he has conveyed to President Obama his country’s willingness to pursue energy cooperation with Iraqi Kurds and for which he has sought US green light. It is also possible to presume that bringing Baghdad into the deals in one way or another may have also been discussed.
While the KRG persists that the deals with international oil companies are in line with Iraq's Constitution, Baghdad’s refusal to abide by its constitutional obligations to promulgate a hydrocarbon law for the country in order to end legal ambiguities and also to honour its agreements with the KRG to pay the companies operating in Kurdistan, led to a dangerous standoff late last year.
Turkey has repeatedly reaffirmed that it is keen to honour its agreement with KRG regarding oil and gas exploration and their exports to Turkey and possibly to the world market.
Baghdad has warned the Kurds against any attempt to export oil. The tensions continued until early May when a Kurdish high ranking delegation, headed by the KRG Prime Minister, Nechirvan Barzani, went to Baghdad and signed a seven-point agreement with Iraqi Prime Minister, Nuri Al-Maliki, showing both sides willingness to settle the outstanding issues and ease the tensions.
After having insinuated to use the force and expressing an intransigent centralist policy towards the Kurds during the past months, Nuri Al-Maliki's willingness to re-engage talks with the Kurds could be seen, at first, as an attempt to appease with the KRG in order to be able to concentrate on the Sunni troubled regions. However, other reasons may have motivated his agreement with the Kurds.
Al-Maliki seems to have misread the US policy. He was expecting a stronger support from the US against the Kurds. He was expecting that Washington would at least exert strong pressure on Exxon Mobile to cancel its contracts with the KRG, which would have certainly undermined the Region's reputation being an energy destination; or put severe pressure on Turkey to keep away from the Kurdistan Region.
This, however, did not happen. Exxon Mobile has very recently consolidated its presence in Kurdistan by signing a partnership agreement with Turkish Petroleum and the KRG.
Exxon Mobil was the first major to sign exploration contracts with the KRG in October 2011 and was followed by Chevron, Total and Gasprom.
KRG Prime Minister, Nechirvan Barzani has reiterated that the Kurds are attached to the terms of the Iraqi constitution and the principles of partnership between all Iraqi political components and his government is eager to settle all the outstanding issues regarding oil and Kurdish disputed areas on the basis of the federal constitution.
Meantime, he showed to Al-Maliki that in the event that Kurdish constitutional rights were not respected, the Kurds would be forced to adopt their own alternatives: one day before Barzani’s departure to Baghdad, Kurdistan parliament passed a law stipulating that unless the Iraqi federal government settles the oil companies outstanding issue, the KRG is entitled to export and sell its own oil.
As a gesture of good will, Erbil has sent back Kurdish ministers and MPs to their Baghdad posts, who boycotted Iraqi parliament and government in protest to Al-Maliki’s policy. The ball now is in Baghdad's camp.
It is not known what Erdogan has been able to obtain from Washington regarding Ankara’s cooperation with Iraqi Kurds. But there seem to be many areas in Middle Eastern political issues in which the US needs Turkish support and cooperation. A firm US opposition to the Kurdish Turkish energy supply cooperation seems unlikely at this stage.
It appears clear that the Kurds and the Turks will not surrender to regional pressures and the Kurdish oil export is very likely to happen; a reality which could be accepted by all the parties in the end.
Therefore, it is in the interest of Baghdad to deal with Kurdistan as a solid political and economic close partner and possibly become part of the Kurdish Turkish deal.
As a gesture of good will, Erbil has sent back Kurdish ministers and MPs to their Baghdad posts, who boycotted Iraqi parliament and government in protest to Al-Maliki’s policy. The ball now is in Baghdad's camp.
Hoshmand Othman is a broadcast media expert with an MA in Middle Eastern history and politics at EHESS in Paris, France. He has covered Iraqi and Kurdish issues for several Western media outlets.
