Baghdad Wants to Export Oil to Foreign Markets via Turkey: Reports

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu have reached breakthrough in oil negotiations. The transfer of oil from the Iraqi territory used to be a stumbling block, as Baghdad condemned Ankara for storing oil from the Iraqi autonomous region of Kurdistan.

MOSCOW, December 25 (Sputnik) — Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Thursday that Baghdad would like to transport oil to foreign markets via Turkey, Turkish-based newspaper Today's Zaman said.

Abadi made the statement during a joint press conference with Turkey's Prime Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, in Ankara.

The transfer of oil from the Iraqi territory used to be a stumbling block between Baghdad and Ankara.

Iraq condemned Turkey for storing oil from the Iraqi autonomous region of Kurdistan that was independently transporting oil overseas – something the Iraqi authorities decried.

However, an agreement reached early in December between the Iraqi government and the autonomous region of Kurdistan has opened the way for the daily export of 250,000 barrels of Kurdish oil through Iraqi state oil marketing organization (SOMO). The deal also envisages that Kurdistan will receive 17 percent of Iraq's national budget each year. Turkey has welcomed the agreement.

During the Wednesday press conference, Abadi and Davutoglu also discussed the Islamic State (IS) militant group that has been fighting the Syrian and Iraqi governments since 2012. Davutoglu said as quoted by Today's Zaman daily that, "There shouldn't be any fighters in Syria and Iraq except their own citizens."

Abadi arrived in Ankara on Wednesday to attend the Turkey-Iraq High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council meeting. He will also meet senior Turkish officials before the close of the council meeting on Friday.