Press Release
Agreements Between Muslim Countries Cementing the Sykes-Picot Borders
(Translated)

On Monday, April 22, 2024, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan paid an official visit to Iraq, accompanied by eight ministers (Foreign Affairs, Defense, Interior, Trade, Transportation and Infrastructure, Agriculture and Forestry, Energy and Natural Resources, Industry and Technology), in addition to the President's Communications Director and Foreign Policy and Security Advisor. This visit marks his first after a 13-year hiatus, and it comes just a week after Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' Al-Sudani's visit to Washington. Both visits come amidst difficult circumstances in the region following the events of the Al-Aqsa Flood and the subsequent brutal aggression by the Jewish entity against the resilient people of Gaza. We do not rule out American involvement in orchestrating this visit; Turkey orbits within the sphere of the United States and, under Erdogan's government, is more subservient to American interests, especially after Al-Sudani's statement regarding the termination of the International Coalition presence. He mentioned that his government would engage in strategic bilateral agreements with other countries, starting with the one made with the United States on Monday, April 15, 2024.

It is worth mentioning that all the files discussed for cooperation between the two countries are secondary compared to the two main files: security and economic.

The security file is primarily concerned with the activities of the Turkish Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which operates from Iraqi territories towards the Turkish borders. Turkey seeks a strategic cooperation agreement between the two countries where security agreements are given top priority, similar to those Iran reached with the Sudanese government at the end of August 2023 to control the joint Iraqi-Iranian borders. What Turkey desires is the legal framework for the "security belt" operation, whereby the Iraqi government agreed to allow Turkey to conduct extensive security sweeps against PKK elements within a 30-kilometer strip along the border area during March 2024.

The second file, which is no less important than the previous one, is the trade and oil exchange file along with the development road project. The two parties signed a quadrilateral memorandum of understanding between Iraq, Turkey, Qatar, and the UAE for cooperation in the Development Road Project. This project aims to connect rail and road networks between Turkey and Europe to the north and the Arabian Gulf to the south. The planned railway extends from the coast of the Arabian Gulf, starting from the large Iraqi port of Al-Faw in the south of Iraq, to the Fishkhabur border crossing in northern Iraq, adjacent to the Turkish border. The railway's length is 1175 kilometers, and the length of the overland road between Al-Faw and the Fishkhabur crossing is 1190 km. This project neutralizes the role of the Silk Road sought by China.

O Muslims: This is the state of the Muslim lands after the demolition of the Uthmani Khilafah (Ottoman Caliphate) and its division into states according to the Sykes-Picot Agreement; security problems on the borders, issues with controlling and withholding water, and problems with the various Muslim rulers' administrations. All these issues and more have no solution except through the establishment of the second Khilafah Rashidah (rightly guided Caliphate), from the glad tidings by the Messenger of Allah (saw). In it, the Muslim lands will be united under the leadership of one Imam, the way of the Kufar over the Muslims will vanish, and the wealth and water resources of the Muslims will return to all Muslims. To this glory, Hizb ut Tahrir calls you, having dedicated itself to work towards the revival of Islamic life. So be supporters of Allah, for Allah is your Helper, and He is with you, and He will not forsake your actions.

Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir in Wilayah Iraq