Turkey submits draft proposal to Iraq to renew, expand energy agreement
The statement came after Ankara announced the end of a decades-old agreement covering the Kirkuk-Ceyhan oil pipeline.
"The Ministry of Oil is in the process of reviewing the draft agreement sent by the Turkish side and negotiating with them regarding it to reach a formula that serves the interests of Iraq and Turkey", the Iraqi oil ministry official added.
The 1.6 million barrel-per-day Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline has been offline since 2023 after an arbitration court ruled Ankara should pay $1.5 billion in damages for unauthorised Iraqi exports between 2014 and 2018. Turkey is appealing the ruling.
Turkey still wants to revive the oil pipeline with Iraq, a senior Turkish official told Reuters earlier on Monday.
In a decision published in its Official Gazette on Monday, Turkey said the existing deal dating back to the 1970s - the Turkey-Iraq Crude Oil Pipeline Agreement - and all subsequent protocols or memorandums would be halted from July 27, 2026.
Iraq and Turkey have been working to resume oil flows from the pipeline. Ankara said in late 2023 that the pipeline was ready to receive Iraq's oil but talks between Baghdad, Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government and independent oil producers were not able to reach an agreement on terms.
The Turkish official said the pipeline had the potential to become a "highly active and strategic pipeline for the region".
The person added that Turkey had invested heavily in its maintenance, and noted its importance for regional projects like the Development Road - a planned trade route involving Turkey and Iraq.
"A new and vibrant phase for the Iraq-Turkey pipeline will benefit both countries and the region as a whole," the Turkish official said, without giving details of what Ankara wanted the new agreement to include.
Turkey sees the Development Road initiative - a high-speed road and rail link, running from Iraq's port city of Basrah on the Gulf to the Turkish border and later to Europe - as an opportunity to extend the pipeline further south. Baghdad allocated initial funding for the project in 2023.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Etihad
an hour ago
- Al Etihad
Microsoft server hack has now hit 400 victims, researchers say
23 July 2025 18:22 WASHINGTON (REUTERS) A sweeping cyber-espionage campaign organisation centred on vulnerable versions of Microsoft's server software has now claimed about 400 victims, according to researchers at Netherlands-based Eye Security. The figure, which is derived from a count of digital artefacts discovered during scans of servers running vulnerable versions of Microsoft's SharePoint software, compares to 100 organisations catalogued over the Security says the figure is likely an undercount. "There are many more, because not all attack vectors have left artefacts that we could scan for," said Vaisha Bernard, the chief hacker for Eye Security, which was among the first organisations to flag the spy campaign kicked off after Microsoft failed to fully patch a security hole in its SharePoint server software, kicking off a scramble to fix the vulnerability when it was discovered. The details of most of the victim organisations have not yet been fully disclosed. Bernard declined to identify them.
Middle East Eye
an hour ago
- Middle East Eye
US envoy Tom Barrack accused of plotting Turkey's partition
When billionaire-turned-diplomat Tom Barrack arrived in Ankara in May as US President Donald Trump's ambassador to Turkey, he delivered an unexpectedly emotional speech. 'I think it's a really monumental day for me, feeling the echo of this land from which my ancestors came,' he said. 'But I come with a really simple message from President Trump: his desire to raise the level of the alliance between Turkey and the United States to where it rightfully belongs.' Two months later, Turkish officials are convinced that Barrack is among the most influential US ambassadors ever to serve in the country. His ever-expanding portfolio, now encompassing both Syria and Lebanon, aligns with Ankara's priorities, such as preserving a unified Syrian state under President Ahmed al-Sharaa with a single military. Both Ankara and Barrack seek a stable region. Turkish officials hope that Barrack, who has a direct line to Trump, could help resolve longstanding issues, from the stalled purchase of F-35 fighter jets to the removal of sanctions on Turkey over its purchase of Russia's S-400 missile system. Barrack also made several remarks expressing his admiration of Turkey and its history. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters However, Turkish public opinion paints a starkly different picture. Newspapers and political influencers have launched a campaign against the US envoy, accusing him of attempting to break up the country. Despite Turkey's longstanding history of anti-American sentiment, rooted in the US partnership with Syrian Kurdish groups and its harbouring of the late Fethullah Gulen and his supporters, for the first time in years, an American ambassador is under attack not from government media, but from the opposition, over his conduct. Misquoted The controversy began with Barrack's interview with Turkey's public Anadolu news agency in late June, where he referenced the Ottoman Empire's millet system, which oversaw religious communities from Christians to Jews. Barrack explained that the millet system, which granted religious communities limited autonomy over their own affairs, ensured the survival of diverse groups in the region. He added that a new dialogue between states and cultures was needed today. 'To me, Izmir is the example of how you blend all these communities - Jews, Muslims and Christians living side by side,' he said. 'I see this as the model of what needs to happen in the Middle East and the world. And I think Turkey can be the centre point of it all.' Why Turkey abruptly cancelled an Iraqi oil pipeline agreement Read More » Within days, a flurry of social media posts and newspaper articles misquoted him, claiming that he had advocated for the millet system as the ideal order for modern Turkey, a statement he never made. For many Turkish citizens, the millet system evokes painful memories of a weakened Ottoman Empire in the 19th century, teetering on the brink of partition along ethnic and nationalist lines. 'US Ambassador Tom Barrack showered praise on the Ottoman's religion-based millet system!' wrote Arslan Bulut, a journalist for the nationalist opposition newspaper Yeni Cag, earlier this month. 'For this, Turkey must be stripped of its nation-state status!' Husnu Bozkurt, a former parliamentarian from the Republican People's Party (CHP), took it further: 'For years, we've warned that imperialist America seeks to divide the secular Republic of Turkey by transforming it into a religiously-governed state under its control, destroying the unitary nation-state structure, turning it into a federation, and eliminating linguistic unity by splitting the nation along sectarian and ethnic lines - the ultimate goal of the Greater Middle East Project (BOP).' Barrack is viewed as unconventional among western ambassadors in Turkey, spending much of his time in the region and in Istanbul. His candid interviews with various publications are often taken out of context, as he speaks without reservation. PKK peace talks As Barrack grapples with these reactions, Turkey is engaged in peace talks with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and its jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan, after more than 40 years of conflict. Earlier this year, the PKK announced an end to its armed struggle and, in a symbolic ceremony this month, burned its weapons, a development that has left many Turks uneasy about the country's future. Retired Colonel Unal Atabay argued that Barrack's alleged suggestion to revive the Ottoman religion-based millet system would undermine Turkey's status as a nation-state. Syrian Kurds face 30-day ultimatum from US and Turkey Read More » 'Isn't it interesting… This is exactly what Ocalan refers to as Middle Eastern unity,' he said. 'It's about ensuring the formation of a separatist Kurdish region while transforming Turkey into an Ottoman-like state.' Barrack's recent interview with the Associated Press about Israeli strikes on Damascus and Sweida in Syria over the weekend did little to help his case. He suggested that Israel would rather see Syria fragmented and divided than governed by a strong central state. 'Strong nation-states are a threat - especially Arab states are viewed as a threat to Israel,' he said. But in Syria, he noted, 'I think all the minority communities are smart enough to say, 'We're better off together, centralised.'' Turkish media and commentators interpreted Barrack's criticism of Israel as indirect approval of US efforts to partition strong nation-states in the region. At the same time, Devlet Bahceli, a Turkish nationalist leader within President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ruling coalition, proposed that Turkey could, in the future, appoint two vice presidents, one Kurdish and the other Alevi, a minority religious group that has sometimes reported persecution. Mehmet Ali Guler, a columnist for the opposition Cumhuriyet daily, argued that Bahceli's proposal and Barrack's comments on the Ottoman millet system all serve the same purpose: 'The Lebanonisation of Turkey'. Bahceli in a statement strongly rebuked the allegations, calling them 'distortions'. The US Embassy in Ankara has remained silent in the face of these accusations.
The National
3 hours ago
- The National
UK and Turkey set for Typhoon fighter jet deal
A major sale of Typhoon jets to Turkey is set to go ahead after an agreement was struck on Wednesday with the British government, and with Germany finally clearing objections to the deal. In the absence of an F-16 fighter export agreement with the US, Ankara will now progress with the purchase of up to 40 of the battle-proven aircraft that will be assembled in the UK. The move will also save the BAE Systems production line of Typhoons in Warton, Lancashire, that has been wound down with no further orders and its staff posted elsewhere. After two years of talks, UK Defence Secretary John Healey and Turkish Defence Minister Yaşar Guler signed a preliminary agreement on building the fighters, at the International Defence Industry Fair in Istanbul on Wednesday. Negotiations to finalise an arms deal will continue over the coming weeks, but the UK will hope to secure its first major export order for Typhoons since 2017. The highly capable fighter-bomber is flown by several Gulf states, with squadrons fielded by Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain and a total of about 700 Typhoons built to date. Mr Healey said the preliminary agreement was 'a big step towards Turkey buying UK Typhoon fighter jets' and that the jets would 'strengthen Nato's collective defence'. Charles Woodburn, chief executive of BAE Systems which assembles the aircraft, agreed that the move underscored the importance of co-operation in Nato and 'the critical role Typhoon plays in security and defence in Europe and the Middle East'. The RAF's Typhoon, regarded as an agile aircraft, has seen active service across the Middle East, primarily targeting ISIS during its insurgency in Syria and Iraq. It initially saw action during the 2011 bombing campaign in Libya and is capable of carrying several ground attack weapons including the Storm Shadow cruise and Brimstone precision missiles. The Turkey deal, which could be worth $5.6 billion, had been held up by the previous German government's reluctance to approve export licences, allegedly for political reasons following Ankara's treatment of opposition figures. But Chancellor Friedrich Merz's new government had cleared the way for it following a positive decision by the federal security council earlier this week. Further progress had been made after British Prime Minister Keir Starmer held a phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday, which Turkish government officials said had gone positively. After the announcement of Wednesday's preliminary agreement, Mr Starmer said that 'signing a multibillion export deal with Turkey' will sustain 20,000 UK jobs as well as 'keep us and our allies safer during these uncertain times'. Mr Erdogan said developments in the defence sector would positively contribute to co-operation between the sides, who are both Nato members. A defence industry source told The Nationa l that while staff had been allocated elsewhere from the Warton site, BAE had 'been in this position before' when orders had dried up and it would be straightforward to stand up the production line again if the Turkey deal succeeded. The UK Ministry of Defence also said the potential Typhoon exports would strengthen Turkey's 'advanced combat capabilities'. As the second-largest military force in the Nato alliance, the addition of 40 highly capable fighter jets will provide Turkey with an important upgrade to its air force. The $110 million warplanes are built by a consortium of Germany, Britain, Italy and Spain, represented by Airbus, BAE Systems and Leonardo, with the main production line in the UK.
