BY BERIL DEDEOGLU
STAR) - Iraqi President Jalal Talabani was in Turkey to attend last week's Fifth World Water Forum in Istanbul, and a number of problems were discussed. It seems some ground was covered in these meetings, and President Abdullah Gul decided to visit Baghdad. Gul's visit to Iraq was important in many respects. There are a great many issues between our countries worth discussing and which need mutual trust. The water issue is one of them, but it's been pushed back for now, because it's complicated and also concerns Syria and other countries and the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Even if Iraq is water-rich compared to Turkey and Iraq, Syria knows that its requests are mostly directed towards Turkey.
The issues which can't be put off concern security. It seems that after many years, common ground has been found on security issues concerning both countries. One side of this is the PKK laying down its weapons, but also preventing the emergence of another such group after this happens. Accordingly, it seems an agreement has been reached about including the PKK in the political process, but it's unknown how this will be arranged on Turkey's side. Turkey's policies are mostly dependent on the stance of the northern Iraqi Kurdish regional government. Thus the outcome of an impending Kurdish conference to be held in Erbil will weigh large on Turkey's stance.
On the other side of this common ground is the status of the province of Kirkuk. Any disagreement around Kirkuk might threaten Iraq's federal structure, but there's also great disagreement between Baghdad and the northern Iraqi regional government about a solution. Turkey doesn't want Kirkuk to belong to the Kurdish region and it seems to place more emphasis on Baghdad, but this approach supports the willingness of politicians in the north to separate from the center. Thus Kirkuk is now a bargaining chip at the center of meetings between Talabani and Gul.
Another security issue which often brings together the Iraqi and Turkish presidents is US withdrawal from the region. The method of withdrawal is also being discussed by Ankara and Washington. Moreover, post-withdrawal developments are another potential problem. Thus both Talabani and Gul want to solve the issues of Barzani, the PKK and Kirkuk before the withdrawal starts. In other words, neither party wants the US to withdraw and leave the parties face to face with each other, but instead want the US to get involved in these problems. Maybe they hope the US will act in their favor and decrease the political pressure.
If there's any hope of this, the expectations of both Talabani and Turkey might intersect. If there was any doubt about it, Gul wouldn't have taken the risk and accepted Talabani's invitation. The search for common ground comes from how we're talking about two countries in the same region with common destinies. The stability of one influences the other, and the development of one of them influences the other. Thus there's reciprocity in the parties' security needs as well as economic needs. So meetings on economic issues held during mutual visits establish the fundamentals of efforts for security to be made in the future.