Turkey to reorganize troops in Iraq in accordance with Iraqi gov’t’s concerns: Prime Ministry sources

ANKARA

Turkish PM Ahmet Davutoğlu. DHA Photo

Sources from the Turkish Prime Ministry said that a decision was reached to reorganize the Turkish troops on Iraqi soil, which have caused tensions between Turkey and Iraq to increase since last week, by taking Baghdad’s concerns into consideration. 

Turkish troops who have been stationed at the Bashiqa camp near Iraq’s Mosul since 2014 in order to train Iraqi forces and Kurdish Peshmerga forces against the threat of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) would be reorganized in accordance with the Iraqi government’s sensitivities, sources from the Turkish Prime Ministry said on Dec. 11. 

The statement added Turkish and Iraqi officials have agreed to begin new efforts to launch a mechanism for deeper security cooperation.

This statement came a day after Turkish Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioğlu and the head of the National Intelligence Agency (MİT), Hakan Fidan, visited Bagdad to meet with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.