Turkey has taken an ‘old step’ in the energy deal with Iraq Recep Tayyip Erdogan News

Turkey could receive up to 1 million barrels per day from Iraq after buying part of the British Petroleum-run Kirkuk oil field in northern Iraq, according to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

At a press conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi in Ankara on Tuesday, Erdogan said that the Turkish Petroleum Authority (TPOA) will acquire a 15 percent stake in BP Energy Company of Kirkuk Limited in accordance with a joint venture agreement.

Al-Zaidi was in Turkey to discuss bilateral security, trade, water management, and a new energy partnership.

The visit came as the Iraq-Turkey oil deal – which in 1975 operated the Kirkuk-Ceyhan Oil Pipeline to move Iraqi oil to Turkey’s Mediterranean terminal in Ceyhan – ended on July 27.

Instead of renewing the agreement, Turkiye said he was looking for a new way to work together with Iraq.

Erdogan confirmed that al-Zaidi had offered to supply Turkiye with 1 million bpd. “Yes, that’s right. Once we transfer 1 million barrels of oil from neighboring Iraq, it will meet our needs”, he said.

‘Diversifying the sources’

“The importance of this agreement is not just about increasing power,” Mehmet Celik, associate editor of Daily Sabah, told Al Jazeera.

“Turkey is changing its energy sources, as it always does. But with Iraq, there are two other dimensions: security and development work.”

“This is not another way to change the existing situation, but to differentiate it from Turkiye,” he said, adding that “the events in Hormuz have made Turkiye’s ideas about other powers and trade routes attractive.”

The establishment of the US-Israeli war in Iran in February and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz raised the importance of Ankara to Baghdad, which forced the Turkish authorities to resume the export of oil through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline after years of suspension.

“The three-part cooperation between Turkey and Iraq; that is, defense and security, energy, and administration.

Maintaining relationships

The relationship between Turkey and Iraq has changed in the last decade but remains very important, especially in Iraq regarding oil and water.

The most difficult issue is related to security, especially the presence of Turkish troops on Iraqi soil to fight the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which Turkey, the US and the European Union have called a “terrorist” group.

The military estimates that Turkey has about 50 military bases in northern Iraq in Erbil, Duhok and Nineveh, with about 5,000 troops and weapons.

In mid-2025, the PKK announced it would disarm as part of a peace deal with Ankara to end a 40-year war against the government, but Turkiye sees the army’s presence in the mountainous regions of northern Iraq as a national security threat.

“We are in close discussions with our Iraqi brothers to ensure that our strategy for a terrorist-free Turkey and our vision of a terrorist-free region are realized,” Erdogan said at a news conference with al-Zaidi.