AKP invites Hamas chief and Nujaifi

ANKARA

Iraqi Parliament Speaker Usame al-Nujaifi and Khaled Mashaal, the head of the Hamas movement in exile, have been added to the list of invitees to the upcoming congress of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) on Sept. 30.

Although AKP officials have confirmed that an invitation has been sent to Mashaal, they haven’t yet confirmed whether he has responded positively to this invitation, or whether he will deliver a speech at the congress. The same officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, expressed their expectation that al-Nujaifi would attend the convention.

The AKP sent invitations to the leaders of a number of regional countries as well as to world heavyweights in a move to provide an international dimension to its congress where Erdoğan will run for the leadership of the party for the last time.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government President Massoud Barzani, Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, as well as Libyan and Tunisian leaders and politicians from the Balkans and the Caucasus are among other invitees.