The relations between the Turkish and the Iraqi central governments have been strained by the culmination of serious events within last few years. However, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu’s visit to Iraq a few days ago has opened a new page in relations between Turkey and Iraq.
During his visit to Iraq, Davutoglu did not content himself with official meetings with Iraqi government officials. Despite his security council’s advise not to go to Karbala due to security problems, he decided to go there. He did so in a country where even the capital city is still like it is in a civil war, with checkpoints on every corner. Even the Green Zone is no longer entirely safe. Under the extraordinary security measures, Davutoğlu’s convoy visited the Sunni and Shiite districts of Baghdad and Najaf and Karbala, Shiite holy cities. Davutoğlu’s visit to the two cities aimed at sending the right signal on where Turkey stands on the sectarian divergence in the region. Davutoglu wanted to show that it was to the mutual interests of every state in the Muslim World not to play with the fire of ethnic and sectarian fighting.