Iraq and Turkey on Friday vowed to improve relations between the two countries which have been marred in recent years by a series of disputes.
Iraq
and
Turkey
on
Friday vowed to improve relations between the two countries which have been
marred in recent years by a series of disputes.
"We agreed to take new steps in order to improve bilateral relations and
to open new horizons," Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told a news
conference in
Ankara
following a meeting with his Turkish counterpart.
"We have turned the old page and opened a new chapter in our
relations," Zebari said in remarks translated into Turkish.
In the past two years,
Ankara
and
Baghdad
have
engaged in a public war of words, accusing each other of inciting sectarian
tensions and, at various stages, summoning each other's ambassadors in
tit-for-tat maneuvers.
The fate of
Iraq
's
fugitive vice president Tareq al-Hashem is one of several contentious areas
that have dogged once close ties.
Hashemi, a Sunni who has been sentenced to death in
Baghdad
on
charges of running death squads, fled to
Turkey
last
year when
Iraq
's
Shiite-led authorities sought his arrest.
He has however denied the charges and branded the sentence "the final
phase of the theatrical campaign" carried out by his rival, Shiite Prime
Minister Nuri al-Maliki and his "politicized judiciary".
Other issues of contention between
Ankara
and
Baghdad
include the Syrian conflict, the Turkish military presence in
Iraq
to
pursue Kurdish rebels, and how to share the region's oil wealth.
Zebari heralded that a new mechanism would be established between the two
countries for political consultations and direct communication.
"Our official channels, diplomacy channels are open," he said.
For his part, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said his government
considered the two-year stagnation in bilateral ties as "temporary."
"We can still have differences but we can sit and discuss how to resolve
our differences through dialogue and create a synergy out of differences,"
he said.
Davutoglu is expected to visit
Iraq
next
month.
But despite the tensions,
Iraq
is
Turkey
's
major trade partner. More than 1,000 Turkish companies are currently operating
in northern
Iraq
.
"
Turkey
is
our major trade partner. Economic ties have never been hampered by the tensions,
which is an indicator of strong bonds between the two countries," said
Zebari.
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