Turkey's refusal to extradite Iraqi politician Tariq Al-Hashemi to Iraq has added to the feuding between the two regional neighbours, writes Sayed Abdel-Maguid When Turkish officials learned about the Interpol arrest warrant for Iraqi politician Tariq Al-Hashemi, currently in exile in Turkey, they immediately tightened security around his residence, deploying not only regular police but also, according to local media, members of the Turkish intelligence services to ensure extra protection for the former Iraqi vice president and his family. Turkish officials are playing down the Interpol warrant, saying that it is not legally binding and that Ankara will not suffer if it refuses to extradite Al-Hashemi. However, there is little doubt that the warrant puts the Turkish government in a tight spot, and thus far the official reaction has been unclear. Some commentators say that Al-Hashemi will likely remain in Turkey until he has completed his medical treatment, without spelling out the nature of his medical problems, while others suggest that Al-Hashemi may return to Iraq of his own volition. There has been no indication that Ankara is willing to hand over Al-Hashemi, accused of planning political killings in his own country, either to Interpol or to Iraq. Iraq in the past ignored Ankara's request for the extradition of members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) to Turkey, and recalling this Turkish columnists have been drawing parallels between Al-Hashemi's case and that of those they call PKK "terrorists". According to one Turkish official quoted in the daily Bugun, Iraq's call for the extradition of Al-Hashemi is an exercise in "double standards". Another writer in Yeni Safaq said that the Al-Hashemi affair had a regional dimension, since as Iraq draws closer to Iran it is pulling away from Turkey. The writer suggested that a Tehran-Baghdad-Damascus Shiite axis was challenging the Sunni axis of Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Were this true, then Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki could be thought to have won the first round of sparring with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The latter's government, hoping for a quick end to the crisis in neighbouring Syria, has now been wrong-footed across the region and is getting into deeper trouble with its neighbours. Ankara maintains that Al-Maliki's politics are sectarian in nature and that they aim to deprive Iraq's Sunnis and Kurds of power. Whether or not this is true, it is no secret that Ankara has been alarmed by the violence in Syria and that it may be blaming it on Iraq. For its part, Iraq has criticised what it calls Turkish interference in its domestic affairs, Al-Maliki even claiming that Turkey under Erdogan is turning into a "belligerent state". This position is in reaction to Erdogan's encouragement of Turkish businessmen to carry out oil projects in Irbil in Iraq's northern Kurdish region. Erdogan seems also to have been willing to export Iraqi oil through Turkey, regardless of the approval of Iraq's central government. Al-Maliki has thus far stood firm on this issue, saying that all crude oil agreements signed in Kurdistan are void unless they bear the stamp of the central authorities in Baghdad. The Iraqi government also summoned the Turkish ambassador to Iraq to warn him of the consequences of Turkey's acting independently with the Kurdistan government. Al-Maliki also turned down a Turkish request to open two new border crossings a few weeks ago, and, according to the Turkish daily Aydinlik, he has ordered Iraqi businessmen to stop cooperating with Turkish companies. Although Turkish President Abdullah Gul has kept talking of common interests, relations between Ankara and Baghdad have been deteriorating steadily, not good news for either country, as Iraq is the largest commercial partner with Turkey, second only to Germany. However, Ankara has done little to defuse tensions, and it does not seem to ask questions about why Iraq is turning against it, Turkish officials acting as if the medical care being afforded to Al-Hashemi in Turkey does not have a political cost behind it. The fact that Turkey recently hosted Iraqi Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani could also have grated against Baghdad's sensibilities, as could Al-Hashemi's failure to provide evidence refuting the charges against him. The crisis between the two countries could have been contained had Baghdad and Ankara maintained a proper dialogue. Instead, their respective media went on the attack and what started out as a set of grievances has been turning into a feud. Had Al-Maliki agreed to activate article 140 of the Iraqi constitution and held a referendum on the future of Kirkuk in Iraqi Kurdistan, this could have helped the situation. It would have given Barzani less reason to seek backing in Ankara, and it could have dissuaded Turkey from offering its protection to al-Hashemi. Turkey may be starting out on a new foreign policy, ending the policy of "zero problems" with its neighbours, once propagated by Foreign Minister Ahmed Davutoglu. From now on, Ankara will be more picky about its friends, Davutoglu said recently.
