The Transformation of Turkey's Northern Iraq Policy in the Context of Turkish Internal Policy

Abstract

Turkey's Northern Iraq policy is one of the widely debated issues of Turkish foreign policy. Turkey's relation with Iraqi Kurds, which had its ups and downs in the 1990s, faced several tensions after the US invasion of Iraq. The relation, which had earlier suffered from lack of dialogue and mutual threat perception, began to change in late 2007. This change continued in 2008 slowly but safely. However, in 2009 Turkey's relations with Iraqi Kurds reached a new phase where both sides started to cooperate on some strategic issues including energy. This article aims to explain this process of change within the context of Turkish internal policy and the developments in Iraq.