Iraq’s fugitive Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi (3rd R) gestures as he leaves a meeting with Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in Ankara, Sept. 9, 2012. Hashemi, a senior Sunni Muslim politician who fled Iraq after authorities accused him of running a death squad, was sentenced to death for murder. (photo by REUTERS/Umit Bektas)

By: Koray Caliskan Translated from Radikal (Turkey).

Journalists were not invited to the meeting that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Turkish main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu held on the morning of Aug. 21 in Baghdad. There was only a photo opportunity for colleagues from news agencies. We asked several times to meet with Maliki, but our requests were turned down on the grounds that he was to travel abroad. Yet, CHP Deputy Chairman Faruk Logoglu briefed us in detail about the meeting. Here are the main points highlighted in the meeting:

• Almost all groups in Iraq are irked that Turkey is intervening extensively in Iraq’s internal affairs.

•  There are documents showing that Turkey is trying to orchestrate certain moves that would unequivocally amount to intervention in Iraqi affairs.

•  The visit of the CHP leader is seen as a turning point in Turkey-Iraq relations.

• Kilicdaroglu is the highest-level Turkish official to have visited Baghdad since 2009.

• The problems of Turkish investors in Iraq are mounting as their businesses are grinding to a halt.

Whoever we talked to in Iraq told us the same things, as if they had agreed on that beforehand. It is apparent that Iraqis are very much offended by the biased policies of the Turkish Foreign Ministry and the leadership of the Justice and Development Party (AKP). [Bilateral ties have deteriorated to such an extent that] the recall of ambassadors is the only step that remains untaken. The Turkish Embassy is doing nothing but daily bureaucratic routines. Former Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi is a loathed figure here. Evidence is said to exist that he has organized mafia-style networks via his bodyguards and laundered money. Iraqis are perplexed why Turkey chose to shelter a criminal wanted on a “red bulletin” for no obvious political gain.

How would you have felt?

According to Iraqis, the last straw came when Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu visited Kirkuk for political talks without any prior notice to Baghdad, overrunning diplomatic customs. “How would you have felt if our foreign minister had paid a political visit to Arabs in Hatay without ever notifying Ankara?” an Iraqi Foreign Ministry official asked. This single sentence, in fact, summarizes the whole problem. Thereafter, Iraq begins to retaliate. They deny landing permission to a charter plane carrying Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz to a conference in Baghdad. Denying access to the Turkish minister when even managers of small energy companies are able to easily enter Baghdad is a very serious measure.

Iraq’s essential reprisal comes in relation to Turkish entrepreneurs. Their businesses have ground to a halt, their payments are blocked and they are unable to get even the specification documents of new tenders. The reconstruction of Iraq is a huge market. Turkey is totally sidelined from this market because of the row that the AKP started for nothing. The situation creates trouble for the Iraqis, too. They are buying water from waterless Kuwait and apples from across the ocean from the United States. Baghdad’s problem with the Kurds is on the course of settlement. Kurdistan is called “Kurdistan” even by Iraqis, with only Turks calling it “Northern Iraq.” Very ironic.

Now, let’s see the real reason for Kilicdaroglu’s visit. Turkish business people are helpless about how to proceed in Iraq. One of them, for instance, said that the losses of only one of his companies had reached $15 million. As in many other areas, the government has clogged relations with Iraq. The CHP is essentially building a new style of diplomacy. It is opening a new channel of diplomatic ties with Iraq to make sure that the AKP’s isolation — the ruling party is now going as far as to take pride with it! — does not affect Turkey as a whole. If the CHP pulls it off, they will set up a commission with Maliki’s investment minister to readjust ties.