Diplomatic Briefing
Your exclusive news aggregator handpicked daily!Archive for July 21, 2022
Newsline: Iraq to recall envoy, summon Turkish ambassador
Iraq has decided to recall its charge d’affaires from Ankara for consultations and summoned the Turkish ambassador over the deadly bombardment on a northern Iraqi resort. The Iraqi Ministerial Council for National Security announced the decisions after holding an emergency meeting on the artillery strikes that killed at least nine tourists and wounded 23 others on Wednesday, Xinhua news agency reported. (https://in.investing.com/news/iraq-to-recall-envoy-summon-turkish-ambassador-over-deadly-bombardment-3281880) Iraq accused Turkiye of striking the resort in Duhok Province of its semi-autonomous region, a charge Ankara has denied. “Turkiye disregards Iraq’s demands to stop the violations against Iraq’s sovereignty and disrespects the principle of good neighborliness,” the Iraqi ministerial council said in a statement, urging Turkiye to submit an official apology and withdraw its forces from all Iraqi territories. The council also decided to pause dispatching a new ambassador to Türkiye in protest of the attack, and order the filing of a complaint to the United Nations Security Council.
Newsline: Iran recalls ambassador to Sweden over court decision
Iran’s state TV said Thursday the country’s foreign ministry recalled its ambassador from Sweden after an Iranian citizen was sentenced to life by a Swedish court for committing war crimes and murder during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. The report quoted ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani as saying the ambassador took the action for some “consultation” over the life sentence for Hamid Noury earlier this month. (https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/Iran-recalls-ambassador-to-Sweden-over-court-17318952.php) The Stockholm District Court said that Noury took part in severe atrocities in July and August 1988 while working as an assistant to the deputy prosecutor at the Gohardasht prison outside the Iranian city of Karaj.
Newsline: Uruguay’s top diplomat seeking China trade deal
Uruguay will push for a free trade agreement with China, the South American country’s top diplomat said on Wednesday, even as it faces resistance from some of its neighbors who favor regional trade talks over deals involving just one nation. Uruguayan Foreign Minister Francisco Bustillo made the comments just outside the Paraguayan capital of Asuncion during a regional diplomatic meeting attended by the Mercosur bloc of countries, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay. “We’ve been transparent and we’ve told all major partners about our intention,” said Bustillo, who pledged more dialogue while describing Mercosur as an imperfect free trade zone in need of an ambitious but pragmatic agenda. (https://news.yahoo.com/uruguay-seeking-china-trade-deal-202213007.html) For years, Beijing has sought closer trade ties with the emerging markets of South America, in large part to secure raw materials including grains and oil for its own growing economy.
Newsline: US Embassy Calls Brazil Election a Model
The US embassy in Brasilia described Brazil’s elections as a “model for the world,” one day after President Jair Bolsonaro told foreign ambassadors that the country’s electronic voting system is subject to fraud. Echoing comments made by President Joe Biden during a bilateral meeting with Bolsonaro last month, the embassy said in a statement late Tuesday that the US “trusts in the strength” of Brazil’s democratic institutions. “The country has a strong track record of free and fair elections, with transparency and high levels of voter participation,” reads the statement published in Portuguese, without citing Bolsonaro or the meeting he hosted the previous day. “We are confident that Brazil’s 2022 elections will reflect the will of the electorate.” (https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-calls-brazil-election-model-021926286.html) The far-right Brazilian leader, trailing former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in all major opinion polls, has repeatedly cast doubt about the integrity of the country’s electronic ballots, even claiming without proof that his 2018 election was rigged against him as he should have won it in the first round of voting. Yet this week’s meeting went a step further as he thought to discredit the country’s electoral authority before a foreign audience. Bolsonaro gathered representatives of about 70 foreign governments at his official residence on Monday to rehash old and debunked conspiracy theories about the security of the system Brazil has been using for more than two decades.
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