Cavusoglu’s visit comes as Turkey pressures Iraq to intensify its fight against the PKK on its territories and to cooperate with the Turkish military to this end in northern Iraq, where the illegal group has their main headquarters and training camps.

The Turkish minister will hold talks with Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohamed Ali al-Hakim along with other high-level Iraqi officials in Baghdad. Turkey had pledged a $5 billion credit for the reconstruction of Iraq.

His itinerary includes the southern town of Basra where Turkey’s consulate-general is expected to be re-opened very soon.

Cavusoglu will also hold talks with the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Erbil where relations between Ankara and Erbil will be reviewed in detail after Turkey had strongly opposed a referendum for the independence of the KRG in September 2017.

The visit by the minister to the oil-rich country comes after the United States announced that it is ending an exception from unilateral sanctions for a number of countries importing oil from Iran, including Turkey. Reports suggest an increase in the volume of crude oil Turkey imports from Iraq in order to compensate for the Iranian product.

Reporter’s code: 50101