Turkish Forum

Tag: Hashemi

  • Turkey should respect Tariq al-Hashemi ruling

    Turkey should respect Tariq al-Hashemi ruling

    Iraq’s recent conviction of fugitive vice president Tariq al-Hashemi and the subsequent political ramifications of the ruling warrant a careful analysis, especially one which takes the Iraqi Constitution into consideration.

    Tariq al Hashemi 008

    Hashemi is a Sunni Arab who was selected for the post based on the guidelines of the Iraqi Constitution. He was charged with numerous crimes during his time in office, including plotting against Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. He fled the country after charges of running a terrorist network were leveled against him in December 2011, and he is currently living in Turkey. Hashemi was always regarded as a politician who mostly viewed issues through a sectarian prism rather than taking a national approach to politics.

    Turkey’s decision to allow Hashemi to stay in the country and the policies adopted by Ankara toward Iraq’s internal issues have raised many questions about Turkey’s role in the case. And recent developments in the region paved the way for a new alliance between Turkey and anti-democratic regimes like Saudi Arabia and Qatar. This has led to a situation in which Turkey has totally ignored the democratic system of Iraq and has begun to support one religious minority in the country.

    Iraq and Turkey used to enjoy extensive cooperation on security, but Ankara’s undemocratic approach to Iraq’s internal issues has created a chasm between the two countries.

    The semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq and KRG President Massoud Barzani should also play a more effective role in the issue, although Barzani seems to have adopted a conservative approach.

    Meanwhile, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu’s surprise and uncoordinated visit to Kirkuk and the sporadic military attacks on Iraq’s Kurdish regions have irritated Baghdad and increased tension between the two countries.

    Turkey is expected to respect the Hashemi ruling since it was issued by the judicial branch of Iraq’s democratic system of governance. Otherwise, Ankara’s insistence on supporting Iraqi dissidents and fugitives will certainly worsen relations between the two influential countries.

    Seyyed Asadollah Athari is a senior research fellow at the Institute for Middle East Strategic Studies in Tehran and an expert on Turkey.

    MS/HG

    END

    MNA

    via Turkey should respect Tariq al-Hashemi ruling – Tehran Times.

  • Iraq stops registering Turkish firms amid row over Hashemi

    Iraq stops registering Turkish firms amid row over Hashemi

    By Aseel Kami

    BAGHDAD | Thu Sep 13, 2012 12:12pm EDT

    s1.reutersmedia.net

    (Reuters) – Iraq’s Trade Ministry has stopped registering Turkish companies, it said on Thursday, as the neighbors sparred over Ankara’s refusal to send back a fugitive Iraqi vice president who was sentenced to death in absentia.

    The ministry insisted the move was made for “regulatory and statistics” purposes, but Turkish businesses in Baghdad were worried the decision was taken because of the dispute between the two capitals and a government source told Reuters it was political.

    Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi can remain in Turkey as long as he needs to, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday. An Iraqi court sentenced Hashemi to death by hanging on Sunday after being convicted of running death squads, a charge he says was politically motivated.

    Iraq is Turkey’s second biggest export market after Germany, with trade volume reaching nearly $12 billion in 2011, Turkey’s economy minister said during a visit to northern Iraq early this year.

    But Iraq’s Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and Turkey’s Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan have publicly traded insults several times this year as relations have soured.

    Kadhim Mohammed, an advisor in the ministry of trade, said the decision to stop registering companies – which will prevent any new Turkish firms opening in Iraq, but should not affect existing ones – had “nothing to do with politics”.

    “There are some administrative and regularity problems,” Mohammed told Reuters. “It is a mere business thing

    He said the measure was ordered by the trade minister on Wednesday and did not know how long it would last.

    A government official who works on trade issues, however, told Reuters the move was motivated by politics.

    “The decision was taken for political reasons since Hashemi is there and also due to the last visit of the Turkish foreign minister to Kirkuk,” he said.

    Last month, Iraq said Turkey had violated its constitution by sending its foreign minister without permission to visit Kirkuk, a city at the heart of a dispute between Baghdad and the country’s autonomous Kurdistan region.

    The Turkish embassy in Baghdad told Reuters it had been informed that a temporary freeze would be applied to all foreign licensing eventually, but that those from Turkey were being covered first because Turkey is Iraq’s biggest trading partner.

    According to the trade ministry, 1,529 foreign companies are registered in Iraq, up from 109 before the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

    (Reporting by Aseel Kami; Editing by Barry Malone and Robin Pomeroy)

    via Iraq stops registering Turkish firms amid row over Hashemi | Reuters.