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Well, Iraq is now turning to Turkey for help protecting its skies. Baghdad is finalizing a major deal to buy 20 Turkish air defense systems after months of drone and missile attacks tied to the Iran war spilled into Iraqi territory. Iraqi officials say the country's skies have been filled with drones with attacks hitting oil fields, diplomatic sites, and key infrastructure. The move also highlights something bigger, warming ties between Iraq and Turkey after years of tension regarding security, militias, and the Kurdish issue. So, what does this deal really say about the shifting balance of power in the region? Well, joining us now is Hay Eytan Cohen Yanarocak, a Turkey expert at the Moshe Dayan Center at Tel Aviv University.
Now, Turkey has gone from being a regional military buyer to a major defense exporter. How significant is it that Iraq is now relying on Turkish air defense systems for its own security? First of all, good morning and thank you very much for having me. Uh well, I would like to underline the fact that Turkey sees the defense industry as an instrument of geopolitical influence. It's a known fact. Uh this defense industry creates long-term dependencies, of course, through training, maintenance, technology transfers, and strategic coordination. And given the fact that Iraq is considered as Turkey's immediate
neighbor, so for Turkey it is very much important to expand its influence also in this country. Well, in the we are nowadays are seeing the end of the conflict or the war in Iran. And obviously, as the country which did not fight in this war, Turkey emerges here as a very important regional power. And given the fact that Iran's influence is decreasing, now this vacuum is filled by Turkey. And we also know that Turkey is considered as a reliable defense industry supplier, and its most important, in my opinion, characteristic is Turkey is not asking any questions whether these whether its goods would be used against whom. There are no question marks regarding human rights abuses and
so forth. So they are affordable. They are also war tested in various theaters such as Nagorno-Karabakh, such as various theaters in Africa like Ethiopia, like Libya, like in Somalia. And therefore they are cheap. And also in terms of the proximity, so it would be a very easy and fast to dispatch them to the Iraqis. And therefore, as far as I understand, the relationship between the Iraqis and the Turks will only going to deepen more and more because at the end of the day, it would be an interest of the Turkish government and the central Iraqi government to diminish the influence of the Iranian or Shiite militias that are that are operating inside the Iraqi territories. During the latest war in Iran, we witnessed that
the Iraqi territory became a core arena for drone attacks also against the US elements, but also the US and the Israeli air forces conducted air strikes against the Iranian militias. So, the Iran-backed militias. So, a long story short, the Iraqi central government has no choice but to act and to exercise here sovereignty through the Turkish mechanisms.
