Iraqi FM to visit Turkey on Friday

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari will visit Turkey on Friday.

According to the TV channel, issues of bilateral cooperation, the Syrian crisis, economic and regional issues will be discussed during the visit.

Tensions have been observed in relations between Turkey and Iraq for over a year. Earlier, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said that Turkey is turning into an enemy for all states in the region because of its attempts to ‘dominate in the region’ and ‘to intervene in the affairs of its neighbours’.

In response, Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Iraq should firstly begin with sorting out its own internal affairs before accusing neighbouring countries of hostility.

Tensions in the relations are also enhanced by Turkey’s energy cooperation with the Kurdish Autonomy in Iraq. In recent months the Turkish side has been making ​​statements that it was not going to abandon cooperation with the Iraqi Kurdish Autonomy in the oil and gas sphere.