Iraq PM invited to Turkey amid frosty ties

BAGHDAD - Agence France-Presse

AFP Photo

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has received an invitation to visit Ankara from his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, a high-ranking Iraqi official said today.
 
Erdoğan "sent an official invitation to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki a few days ago to visit Ankara, the official said on condition of anonymity. "It is not certain if he will accept."

Ties between Iraq and Turkey have been marred by a flurry of disputes this year, most recently Ankara's refusal to extradite Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, who has been sentenced to death in absentia by an Iraqi court.