“As a country which has extremely good relations with all groups in Iraq, Turkey’s vision regarding Iraq is clear,” Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said at a joint press conference following his talks with al-Hashemi, Iraq’s most senior Sunni Arab official.
“Turkey wants to proclaim that it is standing by Iraq under any circumstances and that it will continue doing so as a matter of principle,” Davutoğlu said, while expressing confidence that all Iraqi groups will rebuild Iraq through their commitment to Iraq’s national identity.
On Sunday al-Hashemi also held talks with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, but no statement was released. Al-Hashemi’s talks with Turkish officials came at a time when protracted negotiations on forming a government in Iraq have increased the risk of heightened sectarian violence. Lengthy coalition talks after Iraq’s last election in December 2005 saw the country plunge into a bloody war. In recent weeks, Ankara has hosted several senior Iraqi leaders following the March 7 national parliamentary elections.
Iraqi Vice President Adel Abdul Mahdi, a member of the Shiite-led Iraqi National Alliance (INA), held talks in Ankara earlier this month and met with senior leaders, including Davutoğlu. Around a week before Abdul Mahdi’s talks here, Ankara hosted senior Iraqi Kurdish leader Nechirvan Barzani, the former prime minister of the Kurdish regional government in northern Iraq.
