Iraqi PM declines invitation to visit Turkey

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has declined the invitation of his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan to visit Turkey, RIA Novosti reports.

Ankara has expressed discontent with behavior of Baghdad authorities on many occasions. He added that Shiites and Iraqi Kurdistan leader Masoud Barzani, Sunni block of Al-Iraqiya felt pressurized.

Relations between the two states aggravated in early September when Turkey refused to extradite Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi who had been sentenced to death in Baghdad.