Turkey pivots to Baghdad to close deal on Kurdish oil

Turkey has become aware that the northern Iraq oil stockpiled in Turkey cannot be sold on the world market without Baghdad's approval and has begun developing appropriate new policies.

Since 2011, when relations with the Maliki government seriously deteriorated, Ankara has been striving for economic integration with the northern Iraq Kurdish administration. Most of the schools, hospitals, hotels, mass housing, roads, bridges and infrastructure in that region have been built by Turkish companies. Most of their food supplies come from Turkey. But that rosy situation began to change when oil and natural gas got into the picture.

When Turkey and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) agreed to sell the oil of the region via Turkey’s Ceyhanli [Yumurtalik] port to foreign markets, the United States and Baghdad were disturbed. On Feb. 5, 2013, US Ambassador Francis Ricciardone told journalists in Ankara: “About oil and gas, Turkey should establish relations not with 20% of north Iraq but the remaining 80% of Iraq.” 

On a later occasion, Ricciardone expanded on this statement: “We want the Iraqi government to be content with an agreement between Turkey and the Kurdistan Regional Government. It is important for Ankara-Baghdad and Erbil to be in close contact for their common interests in exporting gas and oil.”