Disagreement on Syria is one underlying cause of the current diplomatic row between Iraq and Turkey, analysts say, but crucial economic ties are likely to prevent a serious escalation.

Despite improving relations and rising trade between their two countries in recent years, the rhetoric between Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan has become heated in recent weeks as Baghdad grappled with a political crisis that has stoked sectarian tensions.

The Gulf Arab states and Turkey, which have spearheaded regional condemnation of the Syrian regime for its deadly crackdown, urged Damascus Saturday to accept an Arab League plan to stop the bloodshed "without delay."

The Arab plan, which envisages President Bashar Assad transferring power to his deputy and the formation of a national unity government within two months, has been rejected by Syria.

Baghdad hit out on Tuesday at alleged Turkish provocations after Ankara said it would speak out if sectarian conflict erupted in Iraq, in a dramatic worsening of tensions between the two neighbors.

Despite improving ties and increasing trade between the pair in recent years, the rhetoric between Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan has become heated in the past two weeks as Iraq has grappled with a political crisis that has stoked sectarian tensions.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday slammed as discriminatory and racist a bill passed by the French Senate making denial of the Armenian genocide a crime.

"The proposal adopted in France is tantamount to discrimination, racism and violates freedom of thought," Erdogan said in the parliament during an address to his fellow deputies.

French senators have passed a bill outlawing the denial of Armenian genocide in 1915, with a seething Turkey slamming the move and warning of consequences while Armenia hailed a day "written in gold."

The French Senate on Monday approved, by 127 votes to 86, the measure which threatens with jail anyone in France who denies that the 1915 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman Turk forces amounted to genocide.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy urged "reason and dialogue" in the row with Turkey on the Armenian genocide, in a letter to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan seen by Agence France Presse Friday.

"I hope we can make reason prevail and maintain our dialogue, as befits allied and friendly countries," Sarkozy wrote after Erdogan's government reacted strongly to a bill criminalizing denial of the Armenian genocide under Ottoman Turkish rule, which the French Senate will debate on Monday.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has denied he has cancer but does remain under doctors' orders not to overdo things after undergoing surgery in November, a report said Friday.

Following widespread speculation that the premier may have had cancer, journalist Mehmet Ali Birand revealed Erdogan had broken his silence about his health in an interview with him for an upcoming TV documentary.

A new round of talks on Iran's controversial nuclear program will "most probably" take place in Istanbul, Tehran's foreign minister said during a visit to Turkey Wednesday, Turkish media reported.

"I am not sure, but most probably it will be in Istanbul," Ali Akbar Salehi said, a year after the last round of talks collapsed.

U.S. President Barack Obama spoke by telephone Friday with Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan about the situation in Syria and Iran's nuclear program, the White House said.

"They agreed that the U.S. and Turkey should continue to support the legitimate demands for democracy for the Syrian people and condemned the brutal action of the Assad regime," it said in a statement.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on political and religious leaders in Iraq on Tuesday to prevent sectarian tensions in the country.

"The last thing we want to see in Iraq is a fight between brothers," Erdogan said in televised remarks in a weekly address to his lawmakers in parliament.