- ANKARA: Turkey’s prime minister is urging Iraq’s leaders to halt escalating sectarian tensions saying they would be held responsible for any bloodshed in the event of a civil war.
The leaders of Iraq’s rival sects have been locked in a standoff after authorities in the government called for Vice President Tariq Al-Hashemi’s arrest on terrorism charges, soon after US troops left the country.
There are fears that the crisis will push Iraq toward a renewal of the large-scale sectarian warfare that pushed the country to the brink of civil war in 2006-7.
Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday Iraqi leaders who pave the way for a sectarian conflict would be “condemned to be remembered as the devil.”
