Ankara seeks to secure a gas deal with Iraq amid growing tension between Russia and Ukraine

Shafaq News/ Ankara is engaged in talks on natural gas supply deal with Baghdad as tension soars between Russia and Ukraine.

Anadolu quoted the Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, saying that his country might strike a gas supply deal with Iraq.

On a visit to Ukraine, Erdogan offered to hold a Ukraine-Russia summit as EU leaders stepped up outreach to the Kremlin to defuse fears Moscow could invade.

Speaking to reporters on his way back from Ukraine, where he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Erdoğan said that the Western countries were unable to contribute to the solution to the Ukraine-Russia situation.

Erdogan said, "It is our hope that, after our meeting with Mr. Putin, if a mediator role is assigned to us, we will accept to be involved in this work as a mediator, and hopefully we will try to do our part."