Nouri al-Maliki... Prime Minister of Iraq and the secretary-general of the Islamic Dawa Party....
criticized Turkey on Thursday for remarks he said did not show "mutual respect", in the latest bout of a weeks-long spat between the two neighbors.
Maliki's comments came as Turkey said it would not extradite runaway Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, who is accused of running death squads and is the subject of an Interpol international Red Notice.
"We do not have any problems with Turkey," Maliki told NRT, a Kurdish satellite channel, according to a statement issued by his office that included quotes from the yet-to-be broadcast interview.
"We do not want to antagonize Turkey, or Iran, or America, or Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in their national face...
, or any other country, but what happened and the remarks issued by Turkey do not show mutual respect."
His remarks come after Iraq and Turkey last month summoned each other's ambassadors to express their displeasure over a worsening row.
At the time, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Maliki, a Shiite, of stoking sectarian tensions between Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds, and of monopolizing power.
Maliki fired back, saying such comments "will damage Turkey's interests and makes it a hostile state for all."
The Iraqi premier's latest comments came as Turkish deputy prime minister Bekir Bozdag said on Wednesday that Ankara would not extradite Hashemi, whose trial in Storied Baghdad
...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate...
is due to begin on May 15 after two delays.