Amid mutual suspicion, Turkish premier visits Iraq
When the Turkish prime minister’s motorcade made its way along the airport road on Thursday morning to Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone, once a terrifying journey with the constant threat of snipers and car bombs, the vehicles instead passed by palm trees, manicured lawns and a fountain — the landscaping work of a Turkish company. Elsewhere […]Tim Arango reports for the New York Times:
When the Turkish prime minister’s motorcade made its way along the airport road on Thursday morning to Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone, once a terrifying journey with the constant threat of snipers and car bombs, the vehicles instead passed by palm trees, manicured lawns and a fountain — the landscaping work of a Turkish company. Elsewhere in the Iraqi capital, from shopping malls to fancy hotels to the shelves of grocery stores, the influence of Turkish business is ample, underscoring an economic relationship between Turkey and Iraq that has flourished even as the diplomatic relationship has soured in recent years.
Now, with the new Iraqi government struggling to keep the country together while under attack from Islamic State militants, and with Turkey dialing back its ambitions of leading a Sunni political axis that would reshape the region, the two countries are trying to come together amid mutual suspicion.
