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Iraqi vice president Al-Hashemi in
Istanbul
5.8.2006
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ANKARA - August
5, -- Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi arrived
in Istanbul yesterday via a private plane. Sources
said he will have talks with both Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Abdullah
Gul in the next few days in Istanbul.
Foreign Ministry sources said that al-Hashemi's
visit was a private one to have a holiday in Turkey.
Nevertheless, the same sources said that various
bilateral issues concerning the neighboring country
and
Turkey, including the presence of members of the
outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Kurdistan
(northern Iraq), were expected to be on the agenda
of the leading Sunni Arab leader's talks with
Erdogan and Gul.
Turkey at the time successfully orchestrated a
meeting to bring together Iraq's Sunni groups and
U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad in December
2005 in Istanbul, convincing them to participate in
Iraqi
elections later that month. |
Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi |
Al-Hashemi, then secretary-general of the Sunni-led
Iraqi Islamic Party, represented Sunni Arabs during
the closed-door meeting where he gathered with Gul
and Khalilzad only a few days before landmark
elections in Iraq on Dec. 15, 2005.
Turkey at the time pressed for Sunni representation
in the polls as Sunni groups boycotted the Jan. 30
elections in 2005 that elected a transitory
government for Iraq, and many Sunnis did not go to
polls for the Oct. 15 referendum on a draft
constitution, either. Ankara's effective support for
Iraq's constitutional process also played a positive
role in bridging Iraqi differences.
The prime minister's chief foreign policy advisor,
Ahmet Davutoglu, was among those who greeted al-Hashemi
at the Ataturk Airport together with Istanbul's
deputy governor.
turkishdailynews com.tr
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