Iraqi Prime Minister Muhammad Shia’ Al-Sudani has paid his first official visit to Turkey since taking office last October, holding important talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The Mar. 21-22 trip to Ankara saw focus on boosting economic cooperation, including a push to advance a new major transit project. But no permanent solution on issues such as transboundary waters emerged. The flows of the Euphrates and the Tigris have historically been among the most problematic contentions between the two neighbors.

Ankara could neither achieve concrete results on the presence in Iraq of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)—an organization blacklisted by Britain, Turkey, and the US. Turkey has in recent years drawn the ire of an array of Iraqi actors over its military operations and establishment of bases inside Iraq with the declared aim of fighting the PKK.

Looking at the bilateral relationship more broadly, there appears to be a new equilibrium. Ties have fluctuated since the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, with Ankara previously pursuing a policy pillared on the rivalry between...