Turkey expresses support for Iraq's Al Faw railway project 

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A senior Turkish diplomat has recently expressed his country's support for Iraq's ambitious Al Faw railway project that will link the eponymous southern Iraqi port city to Europe. 

Turkey "supports" the project and views it with a "positive eye," Turkish Consul General to Basra Mehmet Ozkun told the state-run Iraqi News Agency on Monday.

The project is part of the $7 billion Grand Al Faw Port enterprise that an Italian company is designing. The South Korean company Daewoo Engineering & Construction has finished the breakwater. 

Once the mega port project is complete, it will significantly shorten the time it takes ships to transport goods across continents. It will also earn Baghdad some significant non-oil revenues, those who are informed about the project told The National in August 2021. 

The Turkish diplomat also said that his country intends to discuss the vital route with Iraq, according to the state media. 

The Italian company is currently conducting feasibility studies for the project, Ozkun said. 

In early February, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) signed a memorandum of understanding with the German railway corporation Deutsche Bahn to lay the route's infrastructure in the Kurdistan Region. 

Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani and Iraqi Transport Minister Nasser Hussein al-Shibli also recently discussed connecting Kurdish and Iraqi provinces via rail. 

Al Faw project is marred by allegations of corruption as armed militias in the southern province are competing to strike lucrative deals related to it, resulting in delays.