While the political crisis in Iraq continues in an extremely high tension, Baghdad hosted an important meeting between the dates 23-24 May 2012. The last meeting of the negotiations held on Iran's nuclear programs and between 5+1 countries, composed of the United Nations Security Council Member States and Germany, and Iran was carried out in Baghdad. While it was stated that the meetings held between the 5+1 group and Iran in Baghdad were carried out in a positive atmosphere, it was announced that the European Union proposed a new package to Iran. In the statement made by the spokesman of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, it was indicated that the talks carried out in Baghdad were received favorably. Besides, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, the Chairman for the Committee for Foreign Policy and National Security of the Islamic Consultative Assembly of Iran, also mentioned in his statement that Iran and the 5+1 group states were close to an agreement. Even though those meetings were not concluded with a clear result, when the fact that the meetings were carried out in a positive atmosphere is assessed in terms of Iraq, it is important both for the foreign policy of Iraq and also for its being included in regional and international politics. Because in the statement made from the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's information office, it was indicated that the success of the nuclear negotiations held between Iran and the 5+1 countries in Baghdad would positively affect the region and Iraq, and that Iraq is ready to provide any convenience for the talks to be successful.
As is known, while the domestic policy of Iraq continues in an extremely complex way, Iraq has been striving to take new steps in its foreign policy and to gain a place in both regional and international politics. Therefore, Iraq has been attaching a great importance to the international meetings. As a matter of fact, the bid made for the Arab League Leaders Summit held on 29 March 2012 is still on the memories. The 23rd Arab League Summit, which was held after great efforts despite the fact that it had been postponed for a few times, is the first international conference held in Iraq after 22 years. In addition to political and diplomatic attempts, a considerable amount of resource was allocated for organization of the conference as well. It is mentioned that the cost of this conference for Iraq was 600 million dollars. Having extremely limited relations with the Arab States in the post-2003 period, Iraq has been striving to prove herself and gain a place in regional and international politics. Above all, the fact that the actors steering the global politics convened in Iraq is a significant point. Therefore, this conference was perceived as a matter of prestige for Iraq, even though the subject was not Iraq. Despite the fact that no result could be achieved, the negotiations carried out between Iran and the 5+1 countries in Baghdad are quite important for Iraq to establish a relationship with international actors, and also to develop these relations. Furthermore, Iraq also showed that she could assume a mediator role in solving the problem in the Middle East and more importantly in solution of the problem which became an international problem.
On the other hand, the fact that France and Germany, which are two important states of the European Union within the 5+1 countries and also which do not support the U.S. invasion of Iraq, attended these conferences should be taken into consideration in terms of Iraq's relations to be developed with the European countries. Also, the fact that China and Russia, which were the former partners of Iraq in Saddam Hussein period, took part in these talks is important in terms of reestablishing the relations between Iraq and the aforesaid countries.
The fact that the talks were held in Iraq is important in terms of the developments in the Middle East, but especially in terms of the Syrian issue. It is known that the developments in the region, as well as the nuclear energy issue, were discussed during the talks between the 5+1 countries and Iran. Considering especially Iraq's foreign policy towards the events in Syria and Bahrain, the Iraq-Iran relations, and the tense relations between Iraq and Turkey in the recent period; the fact that these issues were talked with the actors steering the international politics could be regarded as an important step for Iraq's foreign policy. Because this conference shows that international and regional actors addressed Iraq for the solution of problems. Considering the fact that the forthcoming summit of nuclear talks between Iran and the 5+1 countries will be held in Russia between the dates 18-19 June 2012, it can be suggested that the importance of meeting held in Baghdad for Iraq increases still more. From this point of view, the fact that Iraq, which has been striving to create a new foreign policy, acts by protecting all the balances in the region; and the fact that she develops policies based on cooperation such as these conferences, instead of opposition, is thought to provide benefit for the Iraqi foreign policy.