Maliki: We should open a new horizon in Turkish-Iraqi relations

The Iraqi Parliament Speaker Osama al-Nijaifi, paid an official visit to the Prime Minister Recep Tayyib Erdogan, in Ankara on Wednesday. Al-Nijaifi and Erdogan reportedly held a meeting for 45 minutes away from media outlets where Nijaifi handed over a message to Erdogan from the Iraqi Premier Nouri al-Maliki, in which the latter invited the two countries to start a new stage to consolidate relations. Upon his meeting with Erdogan, al-Nijaifi and his accompanying delegation paid a courtesy call to Parliament Speaker Cemil Cicek. "Turkey and Iraq are like next door neighbors. The better the relations between the neighbors, the more peacefully they can live together. Relations between Iraq and Turkey have been always been based on fraternity and we hope to ameliorate our relations in the future," Cicek said. The Iraqi Foreign Minister will reportedly be invited to pay an official visit to Turkey so as to open a new page in the bilateral relations and to discuss the Syrian crisis and its impact on the region.