Growing Turkish-Iraqi ties brought Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan to Baghdad on Sunday, just three weeks after his counterpart, Fuad Hussein, visited Türkiye.
Speaking at a joint news conference with Hussein in the Iraqi capital, Fidan signalled a turning point in bilateral relations on water issues, with a deal involving the use of Iraq’s oil revenues to rehabilitate the country’s water resources, with assistance from Turkish companies.
“We will sign today a crucially important agreement,” Fidan told reporters. “For years, Türkiye and Iraq sought the most efficient use of water and about two and a half years ago, during my meeting with Mr. prime minister, we reached an agreement. We decided to follow a two-pronged approach: finding a better method for water use between Türkiye and Iraq, and developing a framework for cooperation to rehabilitate Iraq’s water infrastructure and irrigation systems. We worked hard on these matters since then,” Fidan told reporters.
The two countries announced a tentative deal last month to share water and manage the Tigris (Dicle) and Euphrates (Fırat) rivers.
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