The Turkish-Kurdish 'Secret Agreement'

In fact, the agreement between Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan apparently came about as a result of this ongoing fight, at at stage when Prime Minister Barzani had felt he was unable to come to any kind of agreement on the issue with former Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki.

The al-Maliki administration was firmly opposed to the agreement and the independent sale of oil. However as yet, the new administration headed by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has remained silent on the agreement. Instead the two sides – Baghdad and Erbil – seem to have been trying to work toward some kind of reconciliation.

“Up until now, we haven't asked the region's government to give us information on its agreement with Turkey,” says MP Areez Abdullah, who chairs the Oil and Gas Committee in the federal Parliament in Baghdad. But, he adds, when it becomes necessary, they will ask for details.

Local writer and analyst of Turkish affairs, Nayaz Hamid, believes that the agreement between Iraqi Kurdistan and Turkey should be much more transparent. It could be seen as a matter of national security, he notes, and Iraqi Kurdistan is not actually a nation; it is a region of Iraq.

“The signing of such an agreement could easily raise doubts because it could fall within the framework of national security,” Hamid points out. “It is an agreement that should be approved by two countries, two members of the United Nations, because that oil will eventually reach world markets and will affect the interests of many other sovereign states. That's why this non-transparent agreement may well not have a real future.”

(Flags image via Shutterstock)