President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan held a phone call with his Iraqi counterpart Barham Salih on Friday. The two leaders exchanged greetings for Sunday’s Ramadan Bayram, also known as Eid al-Fitr, while discussing bilateral ties, regional developments and cooperation in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Iraqi-Turkish border was closed shortly after Turkey ordered a shutdown of the border with Iran two months ago due to the pandemic threat as well as flights between the two countries were suspended. On Wednesday, Iraq requested international assistance, especially supplies of personal protective equipment, against the pandemic which affected more than 3,800 people in the country. On Thursday, the Iraqi Health Ministry reported 153 new cases of the coronavirus while the latest death toll was 140.