Tag: Nouri al-Maliki

Turkey stands by Iraqi vice president

ANKARA, Turkey, Sept. 10 (UPI) — A death sentence issued to fugitive Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi is “obviously” a politically motivated action, a Turkish diplomat said.

An Iraqi court sentenced the vice president to death in absentia Sunday on charges he was operating a death squad in the country. Hashemi took refuge in Kurdish-run northern Iraq before leaving the country for Turkey following the filing of formal charges in December. He’s the subject of an Interpol Red Notice.

A Turkish diplomatic source told daily newspaper Hurriyet the sentencing was politically motivated.

“This is obviously a political decision,” the source said on condition of anonymity. “Sentencing the country’s vice president to death is an absurd situation.”

Hashemi requested U.N. intervention in his case, saying those who offered evidence against him did so during interrogation techniques that he said amounted to torture.

The Turkish government said it wouldn’t extradite the vice president to Iraq. Diplomatic relations between the two countries have soured since U.S. forces left Iraq last year. A spokesman for the Iraqi government had said ties with Ankara were under examination following a series of diplomatic meetings between Turkish officials and those from the Kurdish north.

Hashemi told the Turkish newspaper last month he was expecting the death sentence. The judicial system in Iraq, he said, has lost its legitimacy under Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Topics: Tariq al-Hashimi, Nouri al-Maliki

via Turkey stands by Iraqi vice president – UPI.com.

September 16, 2012
Iraqi fugitive VP will return home: Turkey PM

Iraqi fugitive VP will return home: Turkey PM

May 8 2012 at 05:58pm

By SAPA

iol pic wld Tareq al-Hashemi

Reuters

Iraq’s fugitive Vice-President Tareq al-Hashemi.

Ankara, Turkey –

Turkey’s prime minister said Tuesday that Iraq’s fugitive vice president Tareq al-Hashemi would return home once he has finished treatment for his health, the Anatolia news agency reported.

Hashemi, who is being tried in absentia in Baghdad accused of running a death squad, has been staying in Turkey since early April.

Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Hashemi was in his country for health reasons as well as for political contacts.

“I believe that he will return to his home country after completing the treatment for his health problems,” Erdogan was quoted as saying by Anatolia to journalists during the Turkish leader’s visit to Rome.

He also voiced support for the Iraqi leader concerning the legal case he was facing in Baghdad.

“As I said earlier, we’ve supported him and will continue supporting him on this issue,” said Erdogan.

The Sunni vice-president has sought refuge in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region after he was accused by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s government of running death squads against Shiites Ä a charge he denies.

Erdogan’s remarks came after Interpol said Tuesday it had issued an international Red Notice for Hashemi’s arrest on suspicion of “guiding and financing terrorist attacks”.

“The Red Notice for al-Hashemi represents a regional and international alert to all of Interpol’s 190 member countries to seek their help in locating and arresting him,” the Lyon-based international police agency said. – Sapa-AFP

via Iraqi fugitive VP will return home: Turkey PM – World News | IOL News | IOL.co.za.

May 9, 2012
Ankara says Iraqi vice president can come any time to Turkey: report

Ankara says Iraqi vice president can come any time to Turkey: report

Friday, 23 December 2011

Baghdad police operations’ issued an arrest warrant against Tariq al-Hashemi, the Iraqi vice president, for his alleged role over the November bombing of parliament. (File Photo)

Baghdad police operations’ issued an arrest warrant against Tariq al-Hashemi, the Iraqi vice president, for his alleged role over the November bombing of parliament. (File Photo)

Turkish diplomats said that the Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi can come any time to Turkey, a newspaper reported on Thursday.

The diplomats who wanted to remain anonymous told the Turkey-based newspaper, Today’s Zaman, that “Hashemi, in his capacity as Iraqi vice president, could come to Turkey any time he desires.”

Officials in Turkey expressed concern over the latest development in Iraq, fearing that the country could descend into chaos as was seein in 2003 after the ouster of Saddam Hussein by the United States.

Hashemi who has been accused of the November bombing of the Iraqi parliament, and has had an arrest warrant issued against him, is currently in the country’s autonomous region of Kurdistan, and under the protection of the Kurdish leaders.

Iraqi President, Jalal al-Talabani, who is a Kurd, said that the arrest warrant spoiled Iraqis’ celebration of U.S. troops leaving the country.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki threatened to resign if the parliament did not give a vote of no-confidence against Iraq’s deputy prime minister, Saleh al-Mutlak, and urged the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan to turn over Hashemi to the government.

Mutlak, who described the country’s prime minster as a “dictator,” said his secular, Sunni-backed political block is being increasingly marginalized by Maliki, in an interview with Al Arabiya TV.

On Thursday, a series of coordinated bombings rocked the Iraqi capital, killing at least 67 people and injuring as many as 185 others in the worst violence in Iraq for months and shortly after the U.S. troops’ withdrawal from the conflict-ridden country.

via Ankara says Iraqi vice president can come any time to Turkey: report.

December 24, 2011