Asia27 July, 20262 min read
Ali Al-Zaidi Meets Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on July 28, 2026
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Ali al-Zaidi travels to Ankara on July 28 for official visit invited by Erdogan. Talks will cover security and economic issues shaping Iraqi-Turkish ties.
Al-Zaidi heads to Ankara
Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi will meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on Tuesday, July 28, 2026, in a visit scheduled as the third stop in a series of foreign trips since he took office. Anadolu Ajansı says the talks will mark a further step toward consolidating the strategic partnership between Iraq and Türkiye, which it says has expanded across several fields in recent years.
Anadolu Ajansı adds that the planned talks are expected to cover economic cooperation, security, energy, and water, along with coordination of bilateral positions on regional issues. The Anadolu Ajansı account frames the visit as coming as Baghdad seeks to restore its long-absent role in shaping the region's political and security balance, and it links the agenda to four principal pillars: trade and energy, security, water, and the Development Road project.
Water and Development Road
Turkey’s presidency Communications Department head Burhanuddin Duran said the bilateral relations will be reviewed in all aspects, including security, trade, energy, transport, and water management, ahead of the Ankara meeting. Iraqi government spokesman Haider al-Aboudi said the discussions will focus on strategic cooperation files, with the water file receiving special attention under the Iraqi–Turkish Framework Agreement, and with cooperation in energy and the Development Road project.
Al Jazeera Net’s account says the water file is a priority because Iraq views it as going beyond technical aspects and touching the futures of millions of Iraqis, while it also says Baghdad is studying re-proposing the joint management of the water file with Turkey. Al Jazeera Net reports that the government voted on Saturday to activate the Iraqi–Turkish Framework Agreement on water and bring into force the financing mechanism for projects under this agreement starting September 1, and it says the Development Road project includes a land route and a railway line stretching 1,200 kilometers from the Fao Port in Basra to northern Baghdad, Samarra, and Mosul.
What the talks could shift
Anadolu Ajansı describes Iraqi-Turkish relations as resting on water and security as the most consequential pillars, saying those dossiers have often determined whether relations move toward cooperation or tension. It says Iraq harbors reservations about Türkiye’s approach to the water issue, perceiving that Ankara ties the matter to Baghdad’s policy toward the PKK, which it says uses certain border areas in northern Iraq as safe havens from which they launch attacks against Turkish forces.
Anadolu Ajansı also points to security cooperation, saying the Iraqi National Security Council’s decision in March 2024 to classify the PKK as a "banned organization" and the signing of the "Memorandum of Understanding on Military and Security Cooperation and Counterterrorism" in Ankara in August 2024. In parallel, Al Jazeera Net says Turkish Transport Minister Abdulkadir Oraloglu told it that the Development Road project is nearly 90% complete in principle, with only one matter left: determining the connection point with Turkey, and it quotes him saying, “once the connection point is defined we will begin constructing the bridge and starting the project as soon as possible.”