Iraqi foreign minister due to visit Turkey

ANKARA

REUTERS Photo

Iraq’s new Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari is set to visit Turkey next week in a bid to restore bilateral relations that deteriorated during Nouri al-Maliki’s term of Prime Ministry.

Minister al-Jaafari is expected to visit Turkey next week, aiming to make arrangements for mutual visits of Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu to Baghdad and his counterpart Haider al-Abadi’s visit to Turkey in the upcoming period.

Relations between the two countries have soured considerably in recent years due to oil agreements signed by Turkey with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of northern Iraq without the consent of the central Iraqi government.

Ties were further strained after Turkey gave refuge to fugitive Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi.