Jordan hosted a conference on Tuesday that aims to “provide support for the stability, security and prosperity of Iraq,” according to a statement from the French presidency. However, Middle East analysts comment that the Baghdad Conference for Cooperation and Partnership summit, while full of slogans and promises, lacked tangible achievements.
Mahmood Baban, a researcher from an Iraqi institute that aims to provide knowledge and academic discussions, told the Media Line that the summit was another joint Iraqi-French effort to reduce foreign influence over Iraq.
However, he also noted that Iran and Turkey, as two of the conference’s attendees, “have violated Iraq’s sovereignty and security several times this year and have not tried to conceal it,” referring to two states’ military operations within Iraq despite protests from Baghdad.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi also referred to Iran and Turkey’s offences against Iraq and said Cairo rejected “foreign intervention” in Iraq’s domestic affairs.
The summit was a continuation of the Baghdad Cooperation and Partnership Conference held in Iraq last year by the initiation of France. Paris has taken an increasingly active role in the region in recent years, with French President Emmanuel Macron attempting to intervene to resolve the political crisis in Lebanon.
Instability in Iraq after the 2003 US invasion has recently evolved into cross-border military operations by Iran and Turkey against Kurdish groups in the country.
The summit, held in Amman, hosted Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the ruler of the UAE’s Emirate of Ras al-Khaimah Sheikh Saud bin Saqr al-Qasimi, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud, as well as envoys from the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, the European Union, France and Turkey.
