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Turkish PM becomes first sunni leader to visit shrine of Imam Ali

30 March 2011 [11:01] - TODAY.AZ
Najaf and Arbil, being the second and third spots of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's visit to Iraq following the capital city of Baghdad, on Tuesday became venues for a landmark declaration of Turkey's new approach to Iraq, which has been modified since the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) came to power nine years ago.

Both in Shiite holy city of Najaf and Arbil, the capital of the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq, Erdoğan was greeted with great enthusiasm by residents. In Arbil, the flags of Iraq, Turkey and the regional government were waving on streets hours before Erdoğan's arrival in the city from Najaf, NTV news television reported.

In Najaf, Erdoğan visited the shrine of Imam Ali, cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad, and prayed there. After that, he went to his meeting with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the Iraqi-based highest-ranking cleric in the Middle East for Shiites. NTV footage showed residents' avid interest in Erdoğan as he went to meet Sistani on foot passing by a bazaar.

Erdoğan's Najaf visit and the meeting with Sistani come as Turkey is concerned over Shiite-Sunni unrest in Bahrain. "We expect Iraqi issues to be discussed, as well as what is happening in neighboring countries, especially in Bahrain," Khaled al-Jashaami, a member of Najaf's provincial council, told Agence France-Presse ahead of the visit.

Becoming the first ever Sunni leader who visited the shrine of Imam Ali, the visit by Erdoğan to the shrine has been seen as a significant step for rapprochement between Sunnis and Shiites at a time when concerns over sectarian clashes have grown in the region. Following last year's elections, Ankara held contacts with all ethnic and sectarian groups in Iraq in order to pave the way for a broad-based government, in a bid to maintain its legitimate stance and credibility in the eyes of the Iraqi people.

Barzani's gesture

Ahead of departing for Najaf, in Baghdad, Erdoğan visited Al-Kadhimiya Mosque, which contains the tombs of the seventh Twelver Shi'ah Imam Musa al-Kadhim and the ninth Twelver Shi'ah Imam Muhammad at-Taqi, and the tomb of Imam-e-Azam Abu Hanifah. He was sent off to Najaf by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and with applauses from Iraqis.

Late on Monday in Baghdad, Erdoğan held closed-door meetings separately with a group of Turkmen members of the Iraqi Parliament; Islamic Supreme Council leader Ammar Al Hakim; former prime minister and Sunni-backed Iraqiya leader Iyad Allawi; and former Shiite prime minister and National Alliance chairman Ibrahim al-Jaafari. In Kirkuk, hours before Erdoğan's arrival in the regional capital of Arbil, the Provincial Council elected on Tuesday the head of the council from the Turkmen Front. The Kirkuk Provincial Council named Hassan Toran from the Turkmen Front head of the council, a source from Kirkuk Provincial Council told Alsumaria News.

The appointment has been widely considered as a landmark gesture from Iraqi Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani to Erdoğan. In June, Barzani, the president of Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government, paid his first visit to Turkey as regional president. Barzani had last visited Turkey in April 2004, when he held the rotating presidency of the now-defunct Iraqi Governing Council.

Erdoğan's visit to Baghdad was his first since Maliki formed a government in December -- nine months after parliamentary elections. In a key development Monday, al-Maliki submitted the names of lawmakers to run the country's defense and interior police ministries.

Erdoğan was expected to be hosted at a dinner by Barzani on Tuesday evening. Erdoğan was scheduled to return to Baghdad following the dinner, NTV said.


/World Bulletin/
URL: http://www.today.az/news/regions/83368.html

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