Turkey and the Kurdistan Regional Government （KRG） of Iraq built a strategic partnership since 2007 based on shared economic and political interests which included energy deals that bypassed Bagdad. Why does Turkey engage in economic cooperation with the KRG that facilitates Iraqi Kurds’secession from Iraq, when the Turkish preference is against an independent Kurdish state? The chapter focuses on three key factors to explain the enduring Ankara-Erbil relationship:mutual economic interests, containment of the Kurdistan Workers’Party, and regional power politics. The chapter also investigates the question"How will the recent Kurdish referendum for independence impact the strategic partnership between Turkey and the KRG?"Despite Ankara’s harsh reaction towards the referendum, the chapter argues that the recent crisis will not derail the Turkey-KRG ties. Rather, economic, realpolitik and geographical considerations will continue to push the two actors together in the foreseeable future.
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