Turkish ambassador for Iraq appointed

Turkey has appointed an ambassador to Iraq for the first time since the Gulf War.

The new envoy, Mehmet Akat, is expected to take up his post next week.

He will replace the embassy's charge d'affaires in Baghdad.

The decision to send an ambassador to Iraq was taken in 1998. Turkey backed western nations in the Gulf War but has spoken out against the decade-old sanctions imposed on Iraq, which it says have resulted in the loss of more than thirty billion dollars in trade.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service