Hopes For Ceyhan Resumption Dwindle As Iraq-Turkey Talks Disappoint

25 Aug 2023 Issue: 66 / 34 By: Yesar Al-Maleki

A flurry of high-level meetings between Iraqi and Turkish officials has failed to yield a breakthrough as both parties brought broader bilateral issues to the table.

Officials from Iraq and Turkey have failed to break the deadlock in negotiations over restarting the crude oil export pipeline to the Turkish Mediterranean terminal of Ceyhan. With neither side backing down, Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is caught in the middle with minimal ability to impact discussions and left dependent on a trickle of financing from Baghdad that barely covers its payroll (MEES, 11 August).

The first leg of this week’s meetings saw Iraqi Oil Minister Hayan Abdulghani in Ankara on 21-22 August, where he met his Turkish counterpart Alparslan Bayraktar. This concluded with a joint statement merely stressing “the importance of the Iraq-Turkey Pipeline [ITP],” and a commitment to restart flows “after completing necessary rehabilitation and inspection” stemming from the deadly earthquake that hit Turkey in February. (CONTINUED - 1213 WORDS)