ANKARA — As the Iran war reshapes regional trade routes and weakens Tehran’s influence, Turkey is moving to deepen its foothold in Iraq, betting on energy, infrastructure and connectivity to expand its influence in Baghdad.

The shift is taking shape through a series of agreements that move the relationship beyond traditional oil transit. Turkey has taken a direct stake in major Kirkuk oil fields, secured additional capacity for Iraqi crude through the Iraq-Turkey Pipeline and is pushing the Development Road as a broader trade and energy corridor linking Iraq to Europe. For Baghdad, the partnership offers alternative export routes and much-needed investment as the Hormuz crisis compounds mounting fiscal pressures at home. 

Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said Tuesday that the expanding cooperation was aimed at “taking Turkey-Iraq relations to a new level,” with energy, infrastructure and connectivity increasingly central to the partnership.

The comments followed Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi’s first official visit to Ankara last week, during which the two governments announced a number of agreements. In a significant expansion from transit into production, Turkey’s state-owned TPAO acquired a 15% stake in BP Energy Company of Kirkuk Limited, joining BP and ConocoPhillips in the redevelopment of several major northern Iraqi oil fields with resources estimated at more than 3 billion barrels of oil equivalent.