The prime minister's palace in Baghdad has had a new occupant since August 2014. After eight years in office, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was succeeded by a UK-educated politician. Regional and international criticism aimed at Maliki forced him to give up his chair in favor of another member of the Dawa Party, Haider al-Abadi, although he had received more votes in the parliamentary elections.

During his time as prime minister, Maliki maintained the closest of relations with Iran. Abadi, however, views things differently. Although the first foreign trip made by Abadi, a former Dawa spokesman in the United Kingdom, was to Tehran in October 2014, his comments following the visit signal that Iraq is changing its regional foreign policy.

Abadi traveled to Turkey in November 2014 and was welcomed by Turkish officials. Turkey's Minister of Foreign Affairs Mevlut Cavusoglu welcomed Abadi’s trip. “When Maliki was prime minister, the smallest of issues would become problematic," said Cavusoglu. "However, now that Abadi is in charge, things have changed.” During his Turkey visit, Abadi said, “Iraq is interested in sending its oil to the world market via Turkey.”

In fact, this has been the case for many years now. A major portion of the oil produced in Iraqi Kurdistan reaches the world market via Turkey. The central government in Baghdad had previously protested against Turkey transferring oil from Kurdistan, but it now appears that Abadi wants to approach this issue differently.