Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Media: The Associated Press
Byline: n/a
Date: 16 October 2006
ANKARA, Turkey - The scheduled visit by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki
to Turkey on Monday was canceled after his plane could not take off because
of a sand storm in Baghdad, Turkey's Foreign Ministry said.
Al-Maliki called his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and informed
him about the situation, the ministry said. The ministry said the sides were
working on a new date for a visit by Al-Maliki in the coming days.
Al-Maliki had been scheduled to travel to Ankara to meet with Turkish
leaders to discuss the deteriorating security situation in his country and
how to act against Iraq-based Turkish Kurdish guerrillas in coordination
with the United States.
Turkey is worried that increasing sectarian clashes are pulling the country
toward a civil war that could break Iraq apart and lead to the emergence of
an independent Kurdish state on its border.
Turkey fears that such a development could encourage separatist Kurds in
Turkey and is strongly urging Iraq and the United States to root out Turkish
Kurdish guerrillas, who have been waging hit-and-run attacks from Iraq for
autonomy in Turkey's southeast since 1984.
Byline: n/a
Date: 16 October 2006
ANKARA, Turkey - The scheduled visit by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki
to Turkey on Monday was canceled after his plane could not take off because
of a sand storm in Baghdad, Turkey's Foreign Ministry said.
Al-Maliki called his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and informed
him about the situation, the ministry said. The ministry said the sides were
working on a new date for a visit by Al-Maliki in the coming days.
Al-Maliki had been scheduled to travel to Ankara to meet with Turkish
leaders to discuss the deteriorating security situation in his country and
how to act against Iraq-based Turkish Kurdish guerrillas in coordination
with the United States.
Turkey is worried that increasing sectarian clashes are pulling the country
toward a civil war that could break Iraq apart and lead to the emergence of
an independent Kurdish state on its border.
Turkey fears that such a development could encourage separatist Kurds in
Turkey and is strongly urging Iraq and the United States to root out Turkish
Kurdish guerrillas, who have been waging hit-and-run attacks from Iraq for
autonomy in Turkey's southeast since 1984.