BAGHDAD, Sept 18 (KUNA) -- Iraqi house speaker Osama al-Nujaifi indicated in a press conference here today that his recent trip to Turkey has paved the way for the two countries to reestablish their former relations.
The trip to Ankara last week aimed primarily to smooth over bilateral relations between Iraq and Turkey which suffered alienation over the past few months, said the house speaker, who revealed that high-placed officials from both countries were poised to exchange visits, chiefly among them being the Turkish house speaker who is due to visit Iraq at a later date.
Furthermore, he told reporters at the press conference that his visit to Iran likewise meant to strengthen ties with that country, noting that his visits to Iran and Turkey had also the overarching objective to create regional understanding among his country, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, the UAE, Jordan, along with Turkey and Iran toward dealing with the looming problem of sectarianism and ethnic strife.
He warned that the sectarian scourge, in evidence in his country, could spill over adversely to the rest of the region if the whole region did not get together to root it out conjointly.
For this reason and others, he said he was going to visit Saudi Arabia and Qatar, upon official invitations from them.
He explained that in the course of his visits to Iran and Turkey he presented the officials there with an initiative for a resolution of the crisis in Syria, underscoring the imperative of applying pressure on all conflicting parties in that country to accept a peaceful settlement among them based on Geneva II. (end) ahh.ajs KUNA 181705 Sep 13NNNN