Does Turkey still support a unified Iraq?

Cengiz Candar

Jun 25, 2014

Kurdistan Regional Government President Massoud Barzani (centre, R) meets with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (centre, L) at the presidential palace in Arbil, the capital of northern Iraq's Kurdistan autonomous region, June 24, 2014. Kerry was in Iraqi Kurdistan on Tuesday to urge its leaders not to withdraw from the political process in Baghdad after their forces took control of the northern oil city of Kirkuk. Peshmerga fighters, the security forces of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish north, seized control o — Kurdistan Regional Government President Massoud Barzani (center, R) meets with US Secretary of State John Kerry (center, L) at the presidential palace in Erbil, June 24, 2014. — REUTERS/Brendan Smialowski

Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan shared his views on the latest developments in Iraq at a June 24 meeting with the ambassadors of the European Union member states in Ankara. He observed that Iraq is at the threshold of dismemberment.

Noting that 80% of the Iraqi army is made up of Shiites, Erdogan said Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has been spoiled too much and put forward his exit strategy proposal for Iraq: to form a coalition government as soon as possible.