Arbil, Iraq News

Iraq's Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi speaks at a news conference in in Arbil, about 350 km north of Baghdad, December 20, 2011.

IRBIL, Iraq: Upheaval in the Middle East and mutual economic interests are drawing together two unlikely partners; rising powerhouse Turkey and an entity whose name Turkish leaders hardly dare mention Kurdistan, the semi-autonomous region of northern Iraq.

He accuses al-Maliki of "pushing my country to reach a turning point." The violence could require the return of U.S. forces, he says.

Faster than anyone expected, barely a month after the last U.S. troops left, Iraq's government appears to be coming apart, prompting fears that the country is headed for another round of sectarian strife.

Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki's security services have locked up more than 1,000 members of other political parties over the past several months, detaining many of them in secret locations with no access to legal counsel and using "brutal torture" to extract confessions, his chief political rival has charged.

Lebanese security officers look on as Syrian Kurds protest outside the Arab League offices in an eastern neighborhood of the Lebanese capital Beirut.