In the sweltering heat of a Baghdad summer's day, Hyder Zahid heads to his local supermarket in the Iraqi capital's Mansour district.
The banker buys himself a tub of ice cream made by Ulker, a popular Turkish brand. The bottom layer consists of kunefe, a Middle East dessert with a cheese base covered by a semolina crust doused in sugar syrup, followed by a second layer of ice cream topped with pistachios.
Not a dessert for the calorie conscious.
"Ulker makes really nice ice cream," says Mr Zahid.
"They do everything: soft drinks; snacks; and cookies. It's the same concept as Nestlé except it's Turkish and much cheaper."
A 500g tub of Ulker ice cream costs a mere 2,000 Iraqi dinars, just less than Dh6.30, making it affordable for most Iraqi families. Ulker, along with other Turkish brands such as Topay and Uludag, are enjoying fat profits as Iraqis tuck in to their sweets and cakes.
Many other Turkish brands, covering everything from basic staples to clothes and household products, have come to dominate Iraq's grocery stores where shoppers choose goods based on price rather than brand identity.
"Most people in Iraq don't know Galaxy, Skittles or M&M's unless they have travelled abroad. American food products are only stocked up at select luxury-type supermarkets here," Mr Zahid says.
"But Turkish brands, many of them, have been here in the last 10 years and you'll find them even in the corner-baqala shops."
At Maxi Mall, a popular inexpensive retail brand from Turkey that has sprouted up across Baghdad, shoppers can buy a T-shirt for as little as US$6 (Dh 22.03) and four pairs of socks for $4.
But its not just Turkey's food and retail companies that have taken the Iraqi market by storm. The country's hoteliers and contractors have helped to boost the country's trade exports to Iraq from $2.8 billion in 2007 to $8.3bn last year, according to figures published on the website of Turkey's economy ministry. Imports from Iraq totalled $2.5bn in the same period.
It was Turkey's Rixos Hotels that was awarded the management contract for Baghdad's hotels at a recent Arab League summit in the city. The local staff were replaced with Turkish staff for the event and foreign delegates were feted with gold-encrusted dates and popular Turkish cuisine. "The Iraqis and Turks understand each other. We have the same culture," says Ugur Incescu, the corporate general manager of Rixos, which has also secured a permanent management contract for the Al Rasheed Hotel in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone.
"Turkey's people like to take risk quickly and their businessmen are very flexible."
Tefirom, a heavyweight contractor, is helping to build the $100 million Baghdad Mall project in the capital's Hartheeya district, which falls outside the Green Zone. "Turkish contractors offer unique services that give them an advantage over companies from Iraq's other neighbouring countries," said Abdul Rasool, the managing director of Dar Al Sabah, the client at Baghdad Mall that hired Tefirom.
"They are serious about their commitments, they are on the ground and they work 24 hours a day by splitting their workforce."
Turkey's commercial prominence comes amid a heightened economic battle with another Iraqi neighbour, Iran. Iraq's political relations with Iran have failed to materialise into strong business deals for the sanction-riddled country.
By contrast, Iraq's political relationship with Turkey, a majority Sunni nation, has worsened since its president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, offered support for Iraq's Sunni vice president, Tariq Al Hashemi, when his rival, the prime minister Nouri Al Maliki, a Shiite, sought to unseat him earlier this year. But that has not affected business, says Mr Rasool. "Turkey's businesses have taken a European approach, whereas Iranian companies are still very Eastern-oriented," he said.
"A rising economic power, Turkey's businesses are well positioned to be able to invest in Iraq, whereas many Iranian businesses will not invest and prefer just to secure contracts."
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