Ahmet Davutoglu meets top Iraqi officials in Baghdad

Davutoglu embarked on a two-day visit to Iraqi capital Baghdad on Sunday, meeting with Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki, Vice President Khodair al-Khozaei, Deputy PM Saleh al-Mutlaq, Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, as well as a number of religious authorities on the first day of his visit. In his meeting with Ammar al-Hakim, head of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, Davutoglu expressed his pleasure over visiting Iraq during Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar. Davutoglu said that he and al-Hakim shared their opinions on how to cooparate to end the secterian violence in the country.  The Turkish FM also visited Al-Kadhimiya Mosque and came together with Saleh Al-Haidari, the head of Iraq’s Shiite charity organization, before meeting with al-Haidari's Sunni counterpart Abdulgafur El-Samarrai. At the end of the day, Davutoglu received representatives of the Turkmen minority in Iraq at the Turkish embassy. Davutoglu's busy schedule will continue on Monday, the second day of his visit, as he is expected to visit the cities of Najaf and Karbala.