Turkey, US to Hold Intensifed Iraq Talks

By C. J. Refsland on January 9, 2013 • ( 0 )

“I’m watching this closely for a couple of reasons. Daniel 11: 36-45 describes the end times verse 40 tells us “At the time of the end the King of the South will engage him in battle, and the King of the North will storm out against him …..” Now, if you’ve been watching current events, you’ll know that obama has set up the Muslim Brotherhood to take over Egypt, and not only that he set up Morsi to be the head of the South region. This happened after the last skirmish with Israel and Hamas. Now they are starting to work on Turkey. The next few weeks will be very interesting. Keep your eye on Turkey.”

Turkey and the United States are to hold intensified talks on Turkish energy companies’ involvement in northern Iraq, which has drawn Washington’s annoyance and concerns that the rapprochement between Ankara and Arbil could further push Baghdad toward Tehran.

Undersecretary of the Foreign Ministry Feridun Sinirlioğlu is scheduled to visit Washington late next week to hold talks with his counterpart, Deputy Secretary William Burns, and other senior diplomats. Although Sinirlioğlu’s talks will include a number of serious issues varying from Syria to Iran, ongoing disagreement with Washington on Turkey’s growing energy ties with northern Iraq will be among the top agenda issues.

Turkey’s top diplomat is also planned to include bureaucrats from the Energy Ministry and other relevant ministries to hold detailed talks about Turkey’s ongoing activities in northern Iraq. With its rich and still-undiscovered oil and gas reserves, northern Iraq attracts major foreign companies to obtain drilling licenses and to transport products to world markets. However, due to the fact that Baghdad and the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (IKRG) failed to agree on how to share oil and gas revenues, foreign companies cannot operate the licenses issued by the autonomous Kurdish administration.

Turkey and northern Iraq have developed trade and energy relations in recent years and are believed to be close to signing a major energy agreement. A number of Turkish companies are already active in northern Iraq, which adds further fuel to already-tense Ankara-Baghdad ties.

For Washington, ongoing trouble in Iraq is much more worrisome than Syria, as a potential conflict could easily include various regional countries, such as Iran and Turkey. It is also trying to prevent further rapprochement between Iran and Iraq’s Shiite prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki.

Read the Whole Thing