Turkey, Iraq eye closer cooperation on Syria as relations thaw

ANKARA, 25.10- 2013 – REUTERS  : Turkey and Iraq, both concerned by the rise of al Qaeda in Syria, said on Friday their strained relations were improving and they would cooperate more closely to limit the spillover from Syria’s civil war.

The two countries’ dealings have been tense in recent years, not least because of Turkey’s deepening ties with northern Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region, locked in a dispute with the federal government over oil and land rights. “Over the past two years our relations have gone through a bit of a problematic time,” Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told a joint news conference with his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu during a visit to Ankara. “But the time has come for us to close this page and open a new one. Even though we still have certain disagreements, we don’t have any problems that are not solvable.”

The war in Syria, which borders both Turkey and Iraq, has drawn Sunni Islamists from across the region and beyond into battle against President Bashar al-Assad’s government and has nourished the revival of al Qaeda in Iraq.