Session (5) First Term / First Year

The Council of Representatives held on (19/1/2026) its fifth session of the first legislative term of the first legislative year of the sixth electoral cycle, chaired by Speaker Haibat Al-Halbousi, with (242) MPs in attendance. The session included:

_ The Council recited Surat Al-Fatiha in memory of Iraq's martyrs and the martyrs of the Turkmen component in particular.

_ The Speaker directed that a parliamentary meeting be held tomorrow, Tuesday, to study the distribution of MPs among the parliamentary committees.

_ Speaker Haibat Al-Halbousi welcomed the attendance of the Minister of Water Resources and the Foreign Ministry Undersecretary with senior staff to discuss the provisions of the framework agreement concluded between Iraq and Turkey concerning water. The Speaker affirmed the importance of the Council of Representatives reviewing the agreement, noting that the Minister of Foreign Affairs was unable to attend the session due to duties outside Iraq.

_ Mr. Aoun Dhiab Abdullah, Minister of Water Resources, explained that Iraq is passing through difficult conditions — the worst this year — as a result of climate change and Turkey's exploitation of water resources within its territory. He referred to giving priority to addressing the water crisis and confronting it firmly by finding alternatives, foremost among them seawater desalination as part of the solution to cover the needs of the southern governorates, stressing the need to expedite the completion of the project, which is being implemented slowly, in addition to benefiting from return water by treating it and returning it to the river, and proceeding with a modern mechanism to rationalize irrigation methods as an alternative to the old means, noting that these projects require many plans and requirements.

_ The Minister of Water Resources stated that Iraq does not possess any binding agreement with the Republic of Turkey concerning sharing water in defined quotas, noting that international water agreements stipulate requiring upstream countries not to harm the interests of downstream countries.

_ In reply to a question posed by the Speaker about the Ministry of Water Resources' view of the concluded framework agreement, being the authority concerned with the water file, the Minister indicated that the ministry's opinion is that the framework agreement does not rise to the level of an agreement.

_ The Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Mohammed Bahr Al-Uloom noted that the framework agreement between Iraq and Turkey, signed in 2024, covered several files including counter-terrorism, the climate crisis, transboundary waters, agriculture, and cultural and health cooperation. It also aims to achieve the allocation of a fair and equitable share of transboundary waters and their efficient, sustainable and effective use, in addition to implementing joint projects for this purpose, affirming that the agreement is the framework that defined a mechanism for establishing infrastructure, paving the way for major projects in Iraq and providing the financial capacities for them.

_ Mr. Torhan Al-Mufti, the Prime Minister's advisor for water affairs, reviewed the causes of the drought experienced by Iraq and Turkey, which reached 60%, in addition to the retreat of the rain line in Iraq from what it previously was. He noted that the framework agreement concluded with Turkey is a title for a memorandum of understanding that includes establishing the infrastructure associated with its work, particularly the rehabilitation of water facilities, agricultural lands and other projects set by the executive sectoral authorities in Iraq and implemented by Turkish companies in partnership with Iraq, and establishing an Iraqi-Turkish fund whose revenue comes from Iraqi oil sales to cover the projects included in the agreement. He explained that the agreement's entry into force requires another accord after completing the provisions of the framework agreement, which will include a water quota based on a formula that guarantees Iraq's water needs.

_ The MPs' interventions focused on the importance of building new dams in Iraq to address water waste; a parliamentary demand to send agreements to the Council of Representatives before they are signed by the government; linking the water-sharing file with Turkey to economic exchange with Iraq; the importance of a real, implementable plan and negotiation with the concerned parties on the water file; inquiring about the role of the Ministry of Water Resources regarding the concluded framework agreement; the importance of supporting the Ministry of Water Resources and granting it a sovereign standing in terms of financial allocation in the general budget; in addition to knowing the percentages of water quantities released from the Turkish side.

_ Speaker Haibat Al-Halbousi stressed the need to send, by official letters, the CVs of the negotiating delegation from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Water Resources dispatched to negotiate the water file with the Turkish side, in addition to sending all concluded agreements and memoranda to the Council's Presidency so that the members can review them in detail.

_ The interventions stressed the need to include all sewage projects in the 2026 budget; to support the Ministries of Agriculture, Water Resources and Housing to play their role; to convert the memorandum of understanding into an agreement; to ensure justice in distributing water quantities among the governorates to create water balance; and to demand discussing the agricultural initiative file to postpone the debts owed by farmers due to water scarcity, to help them provide agricultural products.

_ During the session, part of which was chaired by First Deputy Speaker Adnan Faihan, the MPs inquired about the role of the Ministry of Water Resources in addressing the saline water crisis in Basra Governorate, reviewing the completion of the seawater desalination project, its working mechanism and the time ceiling for its establishment on the ground, with the need to stress investing rainwater and dam quantities and confronting the current water challenges. The interventions included demanding the formation of a parliamentary committee and seeking the assistance of experts and advisors to study the water issue comprehensively and present it to the government.

_ The Speaker directed that a session be set to host the Ministers of Interior and Defense, the Army Chief of Staff and the concerned officials in the two ministries to discuss the security situation in the country and controlling the borders with neighboring countries.

_ Voting on forming the Martyrs, Victims and Political Prisoners Committee, announcing the names of its members, with its oldest member assuming its chairmanship, in order to expedite the procedures for amending the Martyrs and Victims of Terrorism Law.

The session was then adjourned.