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Energy tops agenda of Turkish FM's meetings in Iraq

Turkey’s foreign minister is touring Iraq in a likely bid to boost ties with his country's oil-rich neighbor as the United States ends the waivers that allowed Turkey to buy oil from Iran.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu speaks during a news conference with Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohamed Ali Alhakim in Baghdad, Iraq April 28, 2019. REUTERS/Khalid Al-Mousily - RC1AE7284290

Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu met with Iraqi Kurdish leaders today on the last leg of an ambitious visit to Iraq, in which the Turkish diplomat unveiled plans to reopen consulates in Mosul and Basra and to establish new ones in Kirkuk and Najaf. Cavusoglu also announced that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan would pay a formal visit to Iraq before the year's end.

The timing of the two-day tour, which took Cavusoglu from Baghdad to Basra and finally Erbil, prompted speculation that Turkey was turning to its oil-rich neighbor for help after the US administration announced it was ending waivers that allowed a clutch of countries including Turkey to continue buying oil from Iran effective May 2.

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