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Turkey, Iraq Agree to Resume Regular Train Services: Official
Turkey and Iraq have agreed to resume regular train services between them, a visiting Turkish railway official said Wednesday in Baghdad.
Jahid Swilar, Turkish general director of railways, said that Turkey and Iraq have achieved "broad agreement" on re-launching train trips between the two neighbors through Syria to enhance bilateral economic and trade relations.
Swilar expressed satisfaction with his talks with Iraqi officials, and said his visit had resulted in mutual understanding, according to the official INA news agency.
A tripartite meeting of Iraq, Turkey and Syria is due to be held in Istanbul, Turkey's largest city, next month over the issue of resuming regular train services among the three countries after a break of nearly 20 years.
Swilar, who arrived in Iraq Saturday on board a Turkish train, concluded his visit to Iraq on Wednesday. This was the first Turkish train to have entered the sanctions-hit country in 19 years.
Meanwhile, Ghassan Abdul Razzaq, general director of Iraqi railways, said he and his Turkish counterpart have agreed on re- starting weekly train trips to Iraq by Turkish trains.
By going through the Qamichiliy Railway Station in northeastern Syria, a Turkish train from the Mardin Railway Station in southern Turkey can arrive in Iraq in 11-12 hours, Razzaq said.
Iraq resumed train services with Syria last August after a suspension of nearly 20 years, making possible Iraqi-Turkish train services which must go through Syria.
In 1982, Baghdad severed diplomatic relations with Damascus for Syria's support to Iran during the eight-year Iran-Iraq war (1980- 1988), and brought the Iraq-Syria and Iraq-Turkey train services to a halt.
The apparent rapprochement between Ankara and Baghdad coincided with a five-day Turkish commodity fair in Baghdad starting on Monday.
Ankara has shown its keenness to develop trade ties with Baghdad to make up for its huge financial losses because of the decade-old U.N. sanctions, imposed on Iraq for its 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
However, bilateral relations have been frosty. Iraq has often criticized Turkey for its incursions into northern Iraq, and for allowing Western warplanes to use a base in southern Turkey to patrol northern Iraq.
In January, Turkey sent its ambassador to Iraq to improve bilateral relations for the first time since the 1991 Gulf War ended.
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