Al-Kazemi's visit to Turkey ... coped with controversy, lot of criticisms and pessimism about results

Last week, Iraqi's PM Al-Kazemi, visited Turkey, heading a high-level government delegation, and he met with senior officials in Turkey, headed by Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The one-day visit, preceded by an ambitious talking about thorny files that have been pending for decades, but it seems that they were not conclusive.

8 important files about the security, economy, investment, energy, water, railways, visas, frozen funds, and others, in addition to the Kurdish file, dominated the talks.

The talk about the Erdogan, fitting Iraqi's Al-Kazemi collar, in addition to the latter's writings in the record of visitors to Ataturk's tomb, overwhelmed Al-Kazemi's visit to Turkey, and the statements of the two presidents neglected.

After the Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi greeted the Turkish president, the latter rushed to do Al-Kazemi's collar as it was slightly tilted, something embarrassed Al-Kazemi, who also did his jacket and collar as well .

The two countries' relationship has witnessed many pushing and shoving since 2003, but Turkey seeks to maintain the economic relationship as Iraq enjoys an ideal consumer zone for Turkish goods.

The annual trade exchange between the two countries is about 16 billion dollars, and Turkey aspires to reach 20 billion, as it is the beneficiary because Iraq is an importing country.

However, recent months' plain sight tension dominated the two countries relation, against the background of Turkish attacks on some Iraqi regions, and in these months, Turkey has frozen Iraqi assets and funds under the pretext of its response to European requirements related to money laundering.

Al-Kazemi sought to return to the previous procedures before the recent tension, as they obtained an entry visa once they arrived at Turkish airports. Likewise, the Iraqi funds frozen in Turkey could play a role in alleviating the stifling financial crisis afflicting Iraq.

The Turkish president said during a press conference with the Iraqi prime minister, that his country supports the guest country's reconstruction and integrity.

"Turkey attaches importance to protecting Iraq's territorial integrity and political entity, and is ready to provide all forms of support for the reconstruction process," Erdogan said.

He pointed to the possibility of improving trade rate between Turkey and Iraq to 20 billion dollars annually.

"We decided with Mr. Al-Kazemi to continue fighting common enemies," Erdogan said, referring to the PKK.

A weak Iraqi strategy

And about that, the Iraqi journalist Ahmed Al-Mousawi spoke, saying: “The controversy featured the visit, came as a result of things coincided his visit. First, Mr. Al-Kazemi accompanied his office media team, and it was better, to take experts and this is something that Mr. Al-Kazemi was slammed a lot for. Protocol matters related to Erdogan's behavior towards him. "

Regarding the strategy of the relationship with Turkey, Al-Mousawi emphasized, "Unfortunately, it is a weak strategy, so far on the part of the Al-Kazemi government, which has largely overlooked several matters, the most importantly, the sovereignty. Turkey has carried out military ground operations, artillery and air strikes on Iraqi lands, not to mention its forces incursion into the Iraqi depth. The Al-Kazemi government did not apply many guaranteed rights, the most notably, the economic estrangement, and it did not address other levels of response.

'Turkish claws ... and a delay of the water file'

He added, "Turkey views Iraq as a place where it plants its claws, whether in politics, economics, security or even geography, and it carries out its agendas."

According to the Iraqis, the water file has turned into a political pressure card that Ankara uses to pressure Baghdad for more commercial and political concessions, at a time this file caused damage to thousands of agricultural hectares and the migration of farmers to their lands.

About that, the Iraqi journalist said: “Turkey is not manipulating with this file now, because it is facing a drought that is the most severe in years, and it is now looking at its interest in filling its dams and reservoirs, while Iraq is now completely away from it and informed Al-Kazimi about this issue explicitly that water releases would not increase and I asked him to delay the file for the time being. "

'The economic file ... the scale tilts in favor of Ankara'

As for the Kurdish issue, he thinks, "Turkey does not want the Kurdistan region to become inflamed. It wants to eliminate the PKK file through a solid government decision and provides cooperation in this matter; the Kurdistan region is its important economic gateway to Iraq, where 16 billion dollars is the value of the Iraqi-Turkish trade exchange, in which the scale is tilted to Ankara at the expense of Baghdad. "

The visit outcomes... "Turkish missiles annex the Iraqi delegation."

Regarding the visit outcomes, Al-Mousawi pointed out, "We can say that it is just an Iraqi-Turkish political rapprochement, and what he touched is only the cancellation of entry visas. As for the important file of the sovereignty, 24 hours after the delegation departure, turkey bombed 8 villages in the Duhok governorate, northern Iraq. This certainly indicates that violating Iraqi sovereignty is to continue.

He added: "This proves that this visit is still far less than what Iraq had hoped for by working to encourage Turkish companies to invest in it, or for Turkey to hand over wanted persons to Iraq, or for the two countries to cooperate for more important agricultural, industrial or service matters. "

 (A)

ANHA