Middle East & North Africa
Fidan to hand over OIC foreign ministers’ chairmanship to Iraq at Baghdad session
Türkiye’s foreign minister will open the 52nd OIC Council of Foreign Ministers in Baghdad on 17-18 October as outgoing chair, with the chairmanship passing to Iraq.
Türkiye’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan is travelling to Baghdad this weekend for the 52nd session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), where he will hand over the council’s chairmanship to Iraq. The Turkish Foreign Ministry announced the trip on 16 October in its press release No. 198.
According to the ministry, Fidan will attend the session on 17 and 18 October. Türkiye has chaired the council since its 51st session, and as outgoing chair Fidan will give the opening address. The chairmanship then passes to Iraq, the host country. The OIC’s own website lists the Baghdad session for 18 October, and its calendar of meetings shows the dates 17 and 18 October. It also reports that the organisation’s Secretary-General arrived in Baghdad on 16 October to lead a high-level delegation to the meeting.
Ankara’s message on Iraq
The trip comes a day after the Turkish ministry commented on political developments in Baghdad. In press release No. 199, issued on 16 October, it welcomed the filling of vacant posts in the Iraqi cabinet after a vote of confidence in the Iraqi Council of Representatives on 15 October, with Ali al-Zaidi named as prime minister. The ministry said it expects closer cooperation with Baghdad on the Development Road Project and in energy, water, infrastructure and security.
The statement also welcomed the appointment of Mehmet Seman Ağaoğlu, the Governor of Kirkuk and Chairman of the Iraqi Turkmen Front, as a Minister of State, and said Türkiye remains committed to deeper cooperation with Iraq in all fields.
Fidan was in Baku on 15 October for the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) summit, where he met his Chinese counterpart; Geopolitiki covered that meeting in Wang Yi and Fidan meet in Baku: China readout cites Belt and Road, Middle Corridor and COP31.
Neither the Turkish ministry nor the OIC had published an agenda or a list of expected participants for the Baghdad session at the time of writing.