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IRAQ WARS
Rocket hits Turkish embassy wall in Iraq, no casualties
by Staff Writers
Baghdad (AFP) Jan 18, 2012


At least one mortar round struck the outer compound wall of the Turkish embassy in Baghdad on Wednesday, but caused no casualties, an Iraqi official said, amid tensions between the two countries.

A mortar round struck the perimeter of the mission in Waziriyah, in north Baghdad and outside the heavily fortified Green Zone that is home to the US and British embassies and parliament, an interior ministry official said.

There were no casualties, and authorities claimed to have found the vehicle from which the mortar was fired.

Turkey's Anatolia news agency reported that at least two grenades were fired, with one striking the embassy's outer wall and the other hitting a nearby road. It also said there were no casualties.

Antatolia said Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, currently in Brussels, telephoned Ankara's envoy Yunus Demirer to inquire about the incident.

The attack came a day after Turkey summoned Iraq's ambassador to protest claims it has been meddling in Baghdad's affairs by voicing concern over a domestic political crisis.

Feridun Sinirlioglu, the foreign ministry's undersecretary, told the Iraqi envoy that the accusation was "unacceptable" and Turkey had a legitimate right to be concerned about events on the other side of its borders.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan angered his counterpart Nuri al-Maliki by phoning him last week about a standoff with his Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi whom he has accused of running a death squad.

Turkey aims to double Iraq trade in 2012: minister
Arbil, Iraq (AFP) Jan 18, 2012 - Turkey wants to more than double trade with Iraq this year, Ankara's economy minister said at a trade forum, amid recent tensions between the two neighbours.

"Our trading relationship is developing day by day and the volume of bilateral trade last year was $12 billion (9.4 billion)," Zafer Caglayan said in Arbil, the capital of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region.

"We want this figure to reach between $20 billion or $30 billion in 2012."

At the forum, attended by around 150 businessmen representing 70 Turkish companies, Caglayan called for greater Iraqi investment in Turkey.

He said 740 companies currently had construction contracts worth $2.5 billion just in the Kurdish region.

"We do not want to interfere in the affairs of other countries after the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq," Caglayan said, amid accusations from Baghdad that Turkey, by voicing concern over a domestic political crisis, was meddling in Iraqi internal affairs.

"We do not want to plunge Iraq into crisis after the destruction it has suffered. We are concerned about the stability and security of Iraq."

His remarks came a day after Turkey summoned Iraq's ambassador to protest claims it has been meddling in Baghdad's affairs by voicing concern over a domestic political crisis.

Feridun Sinirlioglu, the foreign ministry's undersecretary, told the Iraqi envoy that the accusation was "unacceptable" and Turkey had a legitimate right to be concerned about events on the other side of its borders.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan angered his counterpart Nuri al-Maliki by phoning him last week about a standoff with his Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi whom he has accused of running a death squad.

Caglayan's remarks also came on the same day a mortar round struck the outer compound wall of the Turkish embassy in Baghdad, but there were no casualties.

Related Links
Iraq: The first technology war of the 21st century




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Iraq's main Sunni-backed bloc on Wednesday called on Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to step down if he will not respect a power-sharing agreement amid a festering month-long political row. Senior members of Iyad Allawi's Iraqiya bloc, which has largely been boycotting cabinet and parliament for the past month, also mooted the possibility of pulling out of the national unity government, ... read more


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