Iraqi media hails Turkish president s visit to Baghdad, Erbil as historic aa.com.tr - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from aa.com.tr Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Late on Friday night, shortly before the session to elect a new parliament speaker in Iraq, political discourse shifted towards candidates' associations with the former leader, Saddam Hussein. Iraqis on social media shared an old video featuring Mahmoud Mashhadani, a contender from the Azem Alliance. In the video, Mashhadani praises Saddam, saying, “There is no leader for Iraq’s Sunnis after Saddam Hussein.”
On December 18, Iraqis will elect members of the provincial councils, the highest oversight bodies of subnational government and key providers of public services. The elections are the first at the provincial level in over a decade and come in the wake of the 2019 anti-government protests that resulted in the dissolution of the provincial councils following demands from the protesters who accused them of corruption. Recent findings from the U.S. Institute of Peace’s Conflict and Stabilization Monitoring Framework in Nineveh Province reveal that candidates are facing a distrustful electorate that is lacking confidence in state institutions.
In 'most comprehensive visit to Baghdad' in 18 years, Hakan Fidan discusses bilateral issues with heads of political factions, including US-sanctioned ones