Turkey and Iraq held the first ministerial meeting of the High Level Strategic
Cooperation Council (HLSCC) in Istanbul on September 17-18. To give substance
to the HLSCC, eight Turkish and 10 Iraqi ministers with responsibility for
various portfolios gathered at a joint cabinet meeting. The ministers then held
face-to-face meetings with their counterparts to elaborate joint projects in
their respective fields.
The parties agreed to sign agreements or memorandums of understanding in over
40 areas. The detailed technical work on these projects will continue before
final approval at the Turkish-Iraqi inter-governmental meeting during Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's visit to Baghdad in October.
The Turkish and Iraqi delegations agreed to cooperate on a wide
range of issues, ranging from environmental cooperation to energy partnership.
Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said he agreed with his Iraqi counterparts
to "develop joint projects for the production and transportation of natural gas
and oil". The two delegations discussed the renewal of the Kirkuk-Yumurtalik
pipeline carrying Iraqi crude oil to world markets through Turkish territory.
Yildiz referred to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's remarks during the
Nabucco signing ceremony in July that Iraq could export up to 15 billion cubic
meters of gas to Europe through the Nabucco pipeline. He said that they will
continue their bilateral talks on signing a memorandum of understanding on this
issue.
One of the most remarkable decisions was to create a free-trade area and form a
joint commission to streamline mutual investments. This idea reflects the
political weight that Ankara attaches to the HLSCC initiative: aimed at
integrating both economies. Turkey also has initiated a similar HLSCC process
with the Gulf Cooperation Council and Syria and expects this form of
partnership to include other countries in the region. Ankara also plans to
organize a Turkish-Arab forum.
Given Turkey's experience of a free-market economy, it could spearhead the
integration of the regional countries into the global economy. In return, the
region might serve as a future destination for Turkey's growing exports and
investments, while Turkey could also attract capital from the region,
especially the Persian Gulf, to stimulate its economic development.
The Turkish government increasingly views such bilateral partnerships as the
nucleus of a regional cooperation scheme, which might evolve into an
organization similar to the European Union. The Turkish press has started to
discuss the prospect that the current idea of "full economic cooperation" might
produce a common market, which could eventually lead to political integration.
The idea is to use economic interdependence as a peace building project to
ensure the stability of the region. Obviously, the prospects for such an
ambitious vision, among others, depend on the elimination of political
differences and conflicts of interest among the regional countries.
The need to reduce political tension brings to the fore another area of
cooperation agreed at the HLSCC: combating terrorism. Ankara has been fostering
closer relations with Baghdad and Irbil, the capital of the regional Kurdish
government in northern Iraq, to tackle the threat posed by the Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK), which is using northern Iraq as a safe haven to carry out
its terrorist campaign inside Turkey. The tacit support of the Northern Iraqi
Kurdish authorities for the PKK and the inability of the Baghdad regime to end
the PKK's presence in the region has long strained Turkish-Iraqi relations and
has provoked occasional Turkish cross-border operations.
Ankara's engagement policy has partly paid off, as the Iraqi authorities have
taken steps toward reducing the activities of the PKK inside their country.
Moreover, a trilateral Turkish-Iraqi-American security mechanism has been
established to coordinate the fight against the PKK. Speaking at the end of the
HLSCC, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hosyar Zebari reiterated Baghdad's support for
Turkey's fight against the PKK, arguing that "no armed entity can operate on
our territory under the Iraqi constitution".
Nonetheless, the intensification of PKK terrorism inside Turkey in recent weeks
has raised questions about the effectiveness of Turkey's campaign against the
PKK despite the improvement of diplomatic relations. A spokesperson for
Turkey's Chief of the General Staff General Ilker Basbug announced that the
Turkish army conveyed a request to the government to extend its mandate to
conduct cross-border operations in northern Iraq for another year. The current
mandate, originally granted in October 2007, will expire on October 17, and the
renewal of the authorization will require parliamentary approval.
Although representatives of the opposition parties declared that they would
support the renewal bill, the government has yet to clarify its position on the
issue. The discussions on the cross-border military authorization bill may
further test the government's efforts to solve the Kurdish issue through closer
diplomatic ties with Iraq and enhancing democracy at home.
The conclusions of the HLSCC meeting signifies a major step toward the
implementation of Turkey's new policy of boosting closer political and economic
integration with its Middle Eastern neighbors, through the creation of new
inter-governmental institutions. The road to this goal will be long and full of
political obstacles, such as the ones raised by the issue of terrorism.
Moreover, at a more fundamental level, this new process highlights Turkish
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's efforts to fulfill his grand vision for his
country.
As he has advanced in his academic work, Davutoglu assigns Turkey with the
mission of reviving the once glorious Islamic and Turkish civilization. His
remarks at the HLSCC echo his geo-cultural vision, which was already formed in
his seminal book, Stratejik Derinlik (Strategic Depth).
Davutoglu described the meeting as a historical turning point for bilateral
relations and the region, adding that the projects created at the gathering
"will link Basra [southern Iraqi province] to Edirne [western Turkish
province]. The fate of Baghdad and Istanbul will be joined ... If the
Turkish-Iraqi process expands [to other countries], the Middle East will no
longer be mired in crises and conflicts, but it will be transformed into a
common economic area, with a common political dialogue and security mechanism
... An area that will be able to revive that great civilization".
Saban Kardas is an associate instructor at the Political Science
Department, University of Utah, USA.
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