Iraq: Turkey tries to get Baghdad on board

At the third annual Kurdistan Oil and Gas conference in Erbil, on 1-4 December, Turkey’s energy minister, Taner Yildiz, went to considerable effort to make clear that he was seeking an amicable, three-way agreement between Ankara, Baghdad and Erbil, iterating his message in Arabic, Kurdish and English to make sure there was no confusion. “We wish to receive the consent of the Iraqi central government for commercial export of oil from the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government to Turkey and to launch a trilateral cooperation project that will serve all the parties,” he said on 2 December.