Turkey to host Iraq's internal talks

Turkey will host Shiite and Sunni religious leaders from Iraq in late February in a bid to promote dialogue amid growing political and sectarian tensions in the country.

As Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo?an initiated the meeting, prominent religious figures of Iraq will gather in ?stanbul. Iraq’s powerful Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani accepted to send a representative to head the Shiite delegation. A second delegation will be composed of Sunni religious figures. Mehmet Görmez, Director General of Turkey’s Religious Affairs Directorate, will deliver a speech at the meeting, in which he will call on religious groups to take responsibility in order to avert violence in the country. The conference aims to build dialogue between Iraqi Shiite and Sunni groups, along with establishing a regional organization structure.


/Hurriyet Daily News/