Concerned about the possibility of increased sectarian strife and submergence of Iraq into chaos yet another time, Ankara is following the developments regarding an arrest warrant issued for Iraq's top Sunni official Tareq al-Hashemi with "sensitivity" and would welcome Hashemi if he intends to visit Turkey for consultations in the future, Today's Zaman reported.
"We are hoping for both sides involved in this conflict to act with restraint," diplomatic sources told Today's Zaman on Wednesday, referring to the controversial arrest order of Hashemi, the Sunni vice president of Iraq, moments after the last batch of US forces were pulled out from Iraq nine years after the initial US intervention in the country. Sources also noted that Ankara was following the tension that seems to be growing between the Sunni and Shiite blocs of power in the Iraqi administration with great attention and that it was hopeful that Iraq would not submerge into sectarian strife once more.
The arrest order for Hashemi came based on charges that the vice president was running a hit squad that targeted rival officials and security forces, but an announcement made by Hashemi himself from Erbil, where he fled following the order, made it clear that the Sunni bloc regarded the order as a political scheme. Hashemi noted that he was ready to face the charges brought against him in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region north of Iraq, signaling that he had no plans of returning to Baghdad and did not believe he would receive a fair trial at the hands of the central Iraqi administration.
Iraq's Shiite prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, on Wednesday asked that the Kurdistan region return Hashemi to Baghdad authorities. "We ask our brothers in the Kurdistan region to take responsibility and hand the wanted person over to the judiciary. His running to another state would create problems," Maliki was quoted as telling a press conference by Reuters. Maliki also assured that there would be a fair trial provided for Hashemi.
In response to media speculations that Hashemi might flee Iraq for another country, possibly Turkey, diplomatic sources also noted that Hashemi was a frequent official guest of the country in the past and that if he wanted to come for consultations, Ankara would not turn him down. The same sources also stressed that Ankara was in touch with both sides of the argument and was following the delicate developments in its immediate neighbor country.
Hashemi's office, however, dismissed claims that he plans to flee the country, AP reported on Tuesday. The Sunni official is also banned from traveling outside Iraq and made a public appearance on Tuesday from Erbil to prove that he is inside the country and ready to face the allegations he considered "fabricated by the Maliki government."
The latest developments have pointed toward the possibility that Iraq might face sectarian chaos in the coming days and months after eight years of efforts to reach unification inside the country, initiated by US mediation after Saddam Hussein was removed from power in 2003. Casualties were heavy on both sides, as US intervention unleashed a shift of balance between the two communities at odds.
Allegations that the arrest order has been politically mastered by the Maliki government in a bid to increase Shiite dominance in the Iraqi administration and wipe off the decades-old Sunni clout were strengthened when Maliki further asked parliament to fire another senior Sunni politician, the deputy prime minister, Saleh al-Mutlaq, Reuters reported.
The Shiite government, however, refuses that the charges are political and claim that the cases are against individuals, not a community. Sunnis, however, fear retaliation from the Shiite majority, which was roughly treated under Sunni leader Hussein's iron fist. Maliki himself was convicted by Saddam decades ago and lived in exile to escape execution in Iraq.
The US also voiced "obvious concern" regarding the arrest order, as the timing of the order strongly signaled that the US forces constituted a buffer zone between blocs and their pullout caused a serious drawback in seemingly warming relations. The Shiite bloc has held considerable power since the US invasion of Iraq, and the struggle of power share between Shiite and Sunni officials is believed to be the main reason behind the order. The Sunni Iraqiya of the Iraqi parliament demands that Maliki share control of key posts such as the interior and defense ministry, but so far Maliki has refused to do so. Iraqiya might leave the cabinet by withdrawing its seven ministers, AP reported on Tuesday.
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