Iraq's fugitive Vice-President Tariq al-Hashemi arrived in Istanbul on Monday on a surprise visit to the Turkish city, the State-run Anatolia news agency reported without giving any detail about his mission in the country.
Hashemi, the top Sunni official in Iraq's Shiite-dominated government, flew to Turkey by a private jet from the Qatari capital Doha. He was in Saudi Arabia before visiting Qatar for four days last week.
Hashemi is wanted in Iraq on terror charges for allegedly running death squads against Shiite pilgrims, government officials and security forces. Iraqi authorities issued a warrant for his arrest in December, touching off a political crisis in Baghdad and deepening the country's sectarian divide just days after the U.S. military pullout from the war-torn country.
Hashemi, who denied the "politically-motivated charges," fled Baghdad to take refuge in the autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq.
He told the Al-Jazeera TV channel last week that the charges were designed to push him out of the political process and launched a scathing attack on Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for the development. "I will return to Kurdistan without a doubt. I will never abandon my country," Hashemi said, adding that he would be ready to leave Kurdistan if he felt his presence there was a burden to its government.
Hashemi is visiting Turkey for the first time since the allegations were raised against him.
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June 12, 2026 17:14 ET Major central bank action was the focus this week in economic news. The European Central Bank became the first major central bank to move in response to the rising inflationary pressures in the backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East. In North America, the U.S. inflation and trade data as well as Canada’s central bank decision gained attention. The Chinese trade data was the main news in Asia.