Turkey's foreign minister to visit Iraq this week: Iraqi foreign ministry spokesperson 

Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will arrive in  Baghdad on Wednesday, 23 August, in a formal visit to discuss all suspended issues between the two neighbouring countries.

Fidan is also expected to visit Erbil, the capital city of the northern Kurdish region.

"Turkey's Foreign Minister will pay a formal visit to Iraq on Wednesday in which he will meet with Iraq's Foreign Minister and deputy-Prime Minister Foad Hussein," spokesperson for the Iraqi foreign ministry Ahmed al-Sahaf told The New Arab during a phone interview from Baghdad. "Both sides will discuss joint relations at all aspects between Baghdad and Ankara and ways for boosting these relations."

In terms of the Kurdistan Workers Party's (PKK) presence in the Iraqi Kurdistan region and water shortage in Iraq, al-Sahaf said that all the suspended issues will be discussed "taking into consideration the interests of the two neighbouring countries and in a way that to preserve Iraq's security, stability and sovereignty."

He also emphasised that the main reason for the visit will be "taking up the opportunities and facing the challenges," clarifying the issues of the economy, securing the joint borders, Iraq's fair share of water, and Iraq's active role in establishing stability in the area will be prioritised.  

Last month, Iraqi officials said that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will visit Iraq to discuss critical security and economic issues, including the resumption of crude exports from the Iraqi Kurdistan region through the Turkish Port of Ceyhan. 

When asked about when Erdogan is expected to visit Iraq, Sahaf indicated that during the upcoming visit by Fidan, both sides will discuss "all future formal visits between the two countries."

On 25 March, the international tribunal ruled in a nine-year-old dispute that Baghdad was proper to insist on overseeing all Iraqi oil exports. It ordered Turkey to pay Baghdad damages of US$1.5 billion for allowing the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to export oil between 2014 and 2018 without the Iraqi government's consent. 

Turkey has yet to resume northern oil imports via its territories since it wants Iraq to spare itself from paying fines, according to the tribunal by the Paris-based the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).

The United Nations ranks water-stressed Iraq as one of the five countries most impacted by some effects of climate change.
Turkey has reduced water flow from the Euphrates River, exacerbating Iraq's water insufficiency, especially during the hot summer months.  

The spokesperson of the KRG, Peshawa Hawramani, said on X, the social media platform previously known as Twitter, that Fidan will also visit the Kurdistan region and meet with Masrour Barzani, prime minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government. 

Although Turkey has claimed only to target the PKK militants and activists, early this month, Turkey expanded its drone attacks, striking civilians in urban and touristic areas and on main roads.  

Three Arab citizens from Mosul, including an employee of the Asiacell telecommunications company, were killed by a Turkish drone airstrike on a public road on 11 August, the company and local media outlets said. 

On 9 August, Azhwan Abdullah, a civilian from the Sharbazher area of Sulaimaniyah, died of his wounds after a Turkish drone hit his car on the main road to the Dukan summer resort.

Iraq's foreign ministry has so far remained silent on Turkey, despite the civilian casualties among the Iraqis or for repeatedly breaching Iraq's sovereignty.  

The PKK was formed in the late 1970s by its now-imprisoned leader Abdullah Ocalan. It has fought a four-decade bloody war against the Turkish state demanding greater autonomy for Kurds in the country's southeast region. Its bloody conflict with Ankara has left at least 40,000 people dead since 1984, many of whom were civilians.