SIIC, DIP refrain from attending J&DP’s conference in Ankara

Baghdad – (IraqiNews.com)- Islamic Dawa party headed by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, and the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council headed by Ammar al-Hakim, apologized for not attending the Conference to be held by the Justice and Development Party headed by the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The governor of Baghdad and leader within the Dawa Party, Salah Abdul-Razzaq told Iraqi News (IraqiNews.com) on Saturday, “We received information about the participation of the fugitive Iraqi Vice-President Tariq al-Hashimi in the conference of Erdogan’s party, and he will deliver a speech there, then Maliki called me and told me to cancel the participation after confirmation of the information, because I will represent the Dawa Islamic Party in this conference.”

He added that “We contacted the Turkish ambassador to Baghdad, and he assured the participation of Hashimi in Erdogan’s conference, so we told him our apology for not attending the conference and told us that he will inform his government about this decision.”

On the other hand, a source from the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council told (IraqiNews.com), Saturday, that “The SIIC also apologized for not attending Erdogan’s invitation for the same reason,” noting that “A delegation headed by, the leader within the SIIC Ridha Jawad Taqi, was scheduled to participate in the Conference.”

It is worth to mention that the Justice and Development Party, led by the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, will hold its fourth year conference on Sunday, hosting delegations and representatives of about 160 countries.