What's behind Turkey's rush to reopen Iraqi consulates?

Metin Gurcan

Jul 11, 2018

Turkeys Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu (C) and his wife Sare Davutoglu (L), welcome freed Turkey's Consul in Mosul Ozturk Yilmaz (R) and dozens of other freed Turkish nationals hostages held by Islamist militants in northern Iraq for more than three months, on September 20, 2014 at the Esenboga Airport in Ankara. Fighters from the Islamic State (IS) kidnapped 46 Turks including diplomats, children and special forces from the Turkish consulate in Mosul and 3 Iraqis on June 11 as they captured swathes of nort — Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu (C) and his wife, Sare Davutoglu (L), welcome Turkey's consul in Mosul Ozturk Yilmaz (R) and dozens of other Turkish nationals who were held by Islamist militants in northern Iraq for more than three months, Ankara, Turkey, Sept. 20, 2014. — ADEM ALTAN/AFP/Getty Images

Preparations are underway to reopen the Turkish consulates in the Iraqi cities of Mosul and Basra, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said July 6.

Sources told Al-Monitor that Ankara is frantically searching for a building to buy in Mosul, one that is bigger and better protected than the old consulate on Dur Al-Dhubat Street.

Ankara’s memories of Mosul — where its consulate was seized by the Islamic State (IS) in June 2014 — are not pleasant. IS militants seized the buildings and took 45 consulate staffers, including the consul general, hostage.

The consul general and his staff were released in September 2014 after prolonged bargaining.

What's behind Turkey's rush to reopen Iraqi consulates?

Turkey's consulate in Mosul has been closed since the building was seized by Islamic State militants in June 2014, but now Ankara is looking to make a comeback in its southeastern neighbor.

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