Hakim calls for stronger Turkey ties, says all weapons must come under state control

BAGHDAD — Hikma Movement leader Ammar al-Hakim called for closer relations between Iraq and Turkey and said bringing weapons under state control must cover every weapon outside state authority, without exception, in a meeting with former Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

“I explained Turkey’s importance to Iraq and the importance of strengthening bilateral relations between the two neighboring countries,” Hakim said, adding that they discussed activating existing agreements “in a way that serves their interests and the interests of their two friendly peoples.” Davutoglu, prime minister from 2014 to 2016, now leads an opposition party in Turkey.

“The end of the international coalition’s mission to combat ISIS is evidence of Iraq’s recovery and its ability to manage its security file by itself without the need for others,” Hakim said. “I also affirmed Iraq’s openness to its regional and international surroundings and its progress in addressing the problem of weapons outside the framework of the state, provided that the solution includes every weapon outside the framework of the state.” He praised the forces that fought the Islamic State group.

Iraq and Turkey agreed last month that Turkish forces would gradually hand over the Bashiqa-Zilkan base in Nineveh to the federal government, after Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi met President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in New York. No completion date was given, and Turkey’s other positions in northern Iraq are not covered.

Zaidi has said the government will implement an agreed roadmap to restrict weapons to official security institutions by June 30, 2027. Four factions grouped under the Islamic Resistance in Iraq said on Sept. 30 that they were not bound by any government timetable and would keep their weapons until all foreign forces had left. The coalition completed its withdrawal from its last base in Iraq that day.