Turkey wants Al Hashemi to stay inside country

Turkey's foreign minister yesterday urged Iraqi Vice President Tarek Al Hashemi, facing an arrest warrant on terror charges, to remain in Iraq but said Turkey would not turn him away if he requested asylum. "What would be appropriate for us is that Al Hashemi should stay within the Iraqi territory," said Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in televised remarks broadcast by the state-run Turkish Radio and Television. Al Hashemi, who has fled to the autonomous Kurdish region, is the subject of an arrest warrant that has plunged the country into political chaos. A five-member judicial panel has issued a warrant for Al Hashemi's arrest on terror charges. Al Hashemi says that the charges are politically motivated and that he would accept trial before a court in the Kurdish region. Meanwhile, Iraq's cleric Moqtada Al Sadr has launched an initiative calling for peaceful coexistence among all Iraqis after the withdrawal of US troops from the country. Al Sadr's associates yesterday handed out his 14-point "peace code" proposal. It warns against spilling Iraqi blood and urges respect for all religions, sects and ethnic groups.