ORSAM’S VISIT TO THE EMBASSY OF IRAQ IN TURKEY

3 minute reading time

On January 19, 2011 Hasan Kanbolat, ORSAM Director; Habib Hürmüzlü, ORSAM Advisor and Bilgay Duman, ORSAM Middle East Expert paid a visit to the Embassy of Iraq in Ankara and talked to the Embassy Counsellor Halil El-Subaihi, the First Embassy Secretary Sufyan El-Duri, the Second Embassy Secretary Reysan Abdüllatif, the Consul Süham Ahmet Şakir and to the Ambassador Abdülemir Abu Tabih in particular.   

Touching on the importance of the relations between Turkey and Iraq, the Ambassador Abu Tabih gave information related to Turkey's investments in Iraq. According to the information given by Abu Tabih, 180 among 264 foreign enterprises giving service in Iraq are Turkish Enterprises. The small-scale companies are not included in this calculation. The share of the Turkish enterprises in Iraq among the foreign enterprises is 58%. On the operations of the Turkish enterprises in Iraq, Abu Tabih showed two hospitals valuing 12 million dollars found in the southern Iraq by a company from Gaziantep, as an example. And the trading volume between two countries reached to 4,5 billion dollars in 2010. This figure is aimed to increase up to 20 million dollars in the forthcoming 4-year process.              

Abu Tabih highlighted the fact that using a Turkish product is a sign of status in Iraq and that “Made in Turkey” labeled products are perceived as “magic object” in Iraq. Abu Tabih stated that people are using the Turkish products because of their high quality, and they give credence to the Turkish products. Interpreting this situation as a consequence of the development of relations between Turkey  and Iraq, Abu Tabih indicated that Turkey and Iraq can achieve great things together. Stating “We cannot change the history, therefore we should look to future”, Abu Tabih also shared his opinions related to the Turkish and Ottoman history. He indicated that especially the name of Abdülhamid II in the Arab community is deliberately tarnished by the western circles. Abu Tabih stated that Abdulhamid II has an important place especially because of his attitude towards the Palestine problem. Abu Tabih indicated that in his school years when Abdulhamid II was mentioned, he was ascribed as “H2O”. Abu Tabih said that “H2O” ascription was used as “Abdulhamid II equals to zero”. Abu Tabih stated that he hoped to see the level of Turkey-Iraq relations increase much more.  

During the visit to the Embassy of Iraq in Ankara, the historical building of the Embassy of Iraq in Ankara was introduced as well. The officials told that the embassy building had been established between the years 1935-1938 and was renovated in 2009.