Baghdad (AFP) - Iraqi Vice President Nuri al-Maliki Thursday accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of pushing the world to the brink of a global conflict after Turkey's downing of a Russian warplane.
Maliki, a former prime minister who remains very influential, lashed out at Erdogan after Turkey shot down a Russian jet it said briefly violated its airspace during operations in northern Syria on Tuesday.
"Erdogan claims that a Russian aircraft entered Turkey's airspace for a few seconds, forgetting that its own planes violate Iraqi and Syrian airspace every day," he said in a statement.
Turkish fighter jets have in recent months carried out a series of deadly strikes against rebels of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in their bases in the north of Iraq.
"Erdogan's double standards and aggressive policies are threatening a new world war," he said.
The authorities in Baghdad have long accused Ankara of playing a key role in the rise of the Islamic State group, which took over entire regions of Syria and Iraq over the past two years .... http://news.yahoo.com
