President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan paid an official one-day visit to Iraq on Monday. He was accompanied by a large delegation, including Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya, Defense Minister Yaşar Güler, Trade Minister Ömer Bolat, Energy Minister Alpaslan Bayraktar, Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure Abdülkadir Uraloğlu, Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Ibrahim Yumaklı and Minister of Industry and Technology Fatih Kacır. Many high-ranking Turkish officials also accompanied President Erdoğan.

President Erdoğan arrived in Baghdad for his first state visit to Iraq since 2011, during his tenure as prime minister. He was warmly welcomed by Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed S. Al Sudani at the Baghdad International Airport. Initially, he met with his Iraqi counterpart, Abdel Latif Rashid, to discuss bilateral and regional issues. Subsequently, he held discussions with Prime Minister Al Sudani. Concluding his itinerary, President Erdoğan also visited Irbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), a semi-autonomous entity controlling Iraq’s north, where he met with the head of the KRG, Nechirvan Barzani, and other leaders.