Erdoğan says he'll reciprocate Maliki's visit
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Wednesday that he will visit Iraq after his Iraqi counterpart's planned trip to Turkey.
Erdoğan said at a joint press conference with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Wednesday that Turkey would resume its High-Level Strategic Council meetings with Iraq before his visit. The prime minister added that the process of reconciliation started with Iraqi Parliament Speaker Osama al-Nujaifi's recent visit to Turkey.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu visited Baghdad last week, his first visit to the Iraqi capital since March 2011.
Erdoğan did not mention when Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is planning to visit Turkey. Earlier this month, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said he hoped that relations would continue on a more senior level but gave no dates for any visit.
Erdoğan said his trip to Baghdad will come after Parliament Speaker Cemil Çiçek's visit to Iraq, which he said will be important for restoring peace in the region.
The two countries' dealings have been tense in recent years, not least because of Turkey's deepening ties with northern Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), which is locked in a dispute with the federal government over oil and land rights.
Iraq has been particularly angered by Turkey's involvement in the autonomous Kurdistan region's oil and gas industry.
Underlining close ties between Turkey and the Iraqi Kurdish administration, KRG President Massoud Barzani will be visiting Turkey's predominantly Kurdish province of Diyarbakır on Saturday, together with Erdoğan.
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