Rethinking Turkey-Iraq Relations: The Dilemma of Partial Cooperation.

• Author: Islam, Nazmul
• Position: Book review

Rethinking Turkey-Iraq Relations: The Dilemma of Partial Cooperation

By Mehmet Akif Kumral

New York: Palgrave Macmillan (Springer Nature), 2016, 259 pages, $109.99, ISBN: 9781137561237

In every context, more cooperation rather than less is the best way to arrive at an unparalleled solution. Historically, relations between Turkey and Iraq have been characterized by 'up and down syndrome' through many episodes, especially in the context of cooperation discourse. In Rethinking Turkey-Iraq Relations, Kumral explores the Saadabad Pact of 1937, the defense pact of 1955, the fall of the Pro-western Iraqi monarchy in 1958, the Gulf war in 1991 and the Iraq war in 2003, to highlight, explore and recognize the contextual, ontological, rhetorical and political consequences of cooperation and non-cooperation between Turkey and Iraq. Readers who are engaged with the study of Turkey and Iraq's cooperation and non-cooperation-based history will recognize the study's discussions and arguments, which, at best, emphasize different narratives.

In Rethinking Turkey-Iraq Relations: The Dilemma of Partial Cooperation, Kumral explores the dilemma of partial cooperation between Turkey and Iraq. He examines the transformative and intertwined relations based on historical and historio-graphical evidence, claiming that despite the cooperation between the two countries on the level of politics, trade, oil-water and socio-cultural matters, the reality on the ground has remained contentious because of the wars and areas of non-cooperation, especially the Gulf War and the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

Kumral divides the book into seven chapters; four chapters focus in depth on critical periods in Turkey-Iraq relations, such as the inter-war era (1914-39), the early Cold War (1946-60), the post-Cold War era (1991-2001) and the post 9/11 (2002-12) periods.

In the first chapter, Kumral presents a "theoretical and empirical outline" to point out the main gist of the theoretical and historical implications of Turkey-Iraq relations. By focusing on the historical relations between Turkey and Iraq, Kumral seeks to find out the main rational reasons behind the dynamics, and presents arguments about current and future relations between the two nations. In the introductory section, Kumral shows how Turkey and Iraq have faced turbulent and stormy problems by presenting episodes of cooperation and non-cooperation. Kumral addresses the multi-dimensional relationship between Turkey and Iraq...