Davutoğlu first to congratulate Iraq’s new PM Abadi

ANKARA

Iraq's new Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, attends the Parliament session to submit his government in Baghdad, Iraq, Sept. 8. AP Photo

Turkey’s Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has been to the first to congratulate Iraq’s new Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi whose government was approved at Parliament late Sept. 8.

Davutoğlu held a telephone conversation with Abadi shortly after his Cabinet won a vote of confidence, state-run Anadolu Agency reported on Sept. 9, citing sources from the Prime Ministry office.

“Turkey will always stand by Iraq and its people with whom it has fraternal ties with,” Davutoğlu told Abadi, the same sources said. “The Turkish government is ready to lend all kinds of support to the new Iraqi government,” Davutoğlu also told his Iraqi counterpart.

Davutoğlu was also the first foreign statesman to congratulate Abadi, the sources told the Turkish news agency.

Last month, then-Foreign Minister Davutoğlu revealed that he worked through the night to avert a coup attempt in Iraq when special forces loyal to outgoing Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and armored vehicles were deployed across strategic locations in Baghdad late Aug. 10.

At the time, the Turkish Foreign Ministry released a statement in which it asked for al-Maliki to avoid a fait accompli that would further deepen the chaotic environment in the country and to adopt approaches that would clear the way for Iraq’s stability and peace. “Our country, in this course, will continue to stand with all democratic powers in Iraq and to support the efforts for the formation of a new and inclusive government on the basis of the Iraqi Constitution,” the statement read.

Meanwhile, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu called former Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari, who has been assigned as foreign minister in the new Cabinet, to extend his congratulations, Anadolu Agency reported on Sept. 9.

Çavuşoğlu was the first foreign minister to congratulate Jaafari, diplomatic sources told the agency, adding that Jaafari particularly thanked his Turkish counterpart for this.