Investment talks bring Turkish PM to Baghdad

[bobby_cahill]

By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, Associated Press Qassim Abdul-zahra, Associated Press – 1 hr 27 mins ago

BAGHDAD – Business investments to help Iraq export oil and boost its dwindling electricity and water supplies are expected to top the agenda Monday of a highly anticipated visit to Baghdad by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Hundreds of Iraqis, mostly devout Shiites, lined the airport road from Baghdad to welcome Erdogan. The Turkish prime minister was to meet his Iraqi counterpart, Nouri al-Maliki, and later address parliament.

"It's an important visit," said Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh, adding that dozens of Turkish businessmen are accompanying Erdogan on the two-day trip.

Al-Dabbagh said Erdogan also will meet with Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani — Iraqi-based Shiism's highest ranking cleric in the Mideast — to discuss unrest in Bahrain and strife across the Arab world.

Political observers in Baghdad believe Sistani may ask Erdogan to act as a mediator in Bahrain, where Sunni-led security forces have cracked down on mostly Shiite protesters who are demonstrating against the tiny island's monarchy.

Al-Maliki repeatedly has said he fears the unrest in Bahrain could spark sectarian violence around the Mideast — a particularly fearful scenario for Iraq, which is only just recovering from years of deadly Sunni-Shiite battles.

But al-Dabbagh called the strife in Bahrain "an internal affair."

"I don't think Turkey can mediate to solve the problem in Bahrain," he said. "It is a subject related to its people and its government."

Hours before Erdogan's arrival, three bombs exploded in Baghdad, killing one person and wounding 13, in a stark reminder of the scattered violence that continues to plague Iraq on a daily basis.

And in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, a former al-Qaida stronghold, police said unknown gunmen stormed a family home, killing six women and a man in the early hours Monday before escaping from the scene.

A motive for the killing was not immediately known, although a policeman said it appeared to a terrorist attack. Mosul, about 225 miles (360 kilometers) northwest of Baghdad, still has pockets of Sunni insurgents around the city.

A morgue official at Mosul's hospital confirmed the death toll. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110328/ap_on_bi_ge/ml_iraq

Edited March 28, 2011 by bobby_cahill

[k98nights]

Turkish PM arrives in Baghdad

Monday, March 28th 2011 1:59 PM

Baghdad, March 28 (AKnews) - The Turkish Prime Minister Rajab Tayyeb Erdogan arrived in Baghdad on Monday afternoon at the head of a delegation of ministers and businessmen.

A source at the Turkish embassy in Baghdad told AKnews that Erdogan was hosted at Baghdad International Airport by the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and a number of ministers and government officials.

The delegation accompanying Erdogan included the Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmed Dawoud Ughlo, State Minister Zafer Jaglayan, and Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Taner Yildiz, in addition to a number of Turkish businessmen.

Erdogan is scheduled to meet with the Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, Parliament Speaker Osama al-Nujaifi and various political party leaders, during his visit to the Iraqi capital befor moving on to Najaf where he is scheduled to hold talks with the Shiite cleric Ali al-Sistani and other senior religious figures.

After Najaf, Erdogan is expected to visit the semi-autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan Region where he will meet the region's President Massoud Barzani

Turkey’s Foreign Minister Dawoud Ughlo visited the Iraqi capital earlier this year as a prelude to Erdogan’s visit.

Iraq enjoys healthy economic ties with neighboring Turkey, with many trade agreements operative between the two countries.

A total of 117 Turkish companies are currently implementing various investment projects in Iraq across a spectrum of sectors ranging from energy development to agriculture.

An important 15-year contract was signed between the two countries in September last year for the shipping of Iraqi crude oil from Kirkuk’s northern oil fields through the Turkish port of Ceyhan.

Speaking last week the head of the Kurdistan Region’s Presidential office Fuad Hussein said the Turkish PM’s expected visit to the semi-autonomous region highlights “Turkey’s improved relations with Kurdistan.”

Hussein said the Kurdish side will discuss with the Turkish delegation measures to buttress mutual cultural, economic, and political ties.

Asked whether the issue of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) will be addressed in the meetings, Hussein said all subjects, including common security issues, would be discussed “openly, as usual in our meetings with Turkish officials .”

Founded in Southeast Turkey in 1978, the PKK took up arms in 1984 and have waged battle with the Turkish state for greater political and cultural rights for Turkey's 20 million Kurds for nearly three decades. Around 40,000 people have died to date in clashes with the Turkish military, many of them civilians.

Reported by Bradost Lawin

Rn/Ka/AKnews

http://www.aknews.com/en/aknews/4/227902/