Relations between Iraq and Turkey have seen substantial growth in recent years. Bilateral trade exceeded 20B USD in 2020—despite the economic recession caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, political instability, and volatile oil prices. But although trade has developed at an impressive rate, political ties have not followed the same track.

Turkey’s main challenge in building close ties with Iraq remains the internal struggle between Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi’s government and the Iran-backed armed groups in the country. Thus, Ankara is forced to carefully work on building relations with Baghdad while keeping the armed groups in check...