Turkey says will continue to move troops from northern Iraqi province

US President Barack Obama, seeking to defuse tensions between the two sides as he ramps up the fight against IS, reportedly called Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday to request that he pull his troops out of the country.

Baghdad considers the Turkish troops an illegal incursion and has demanded their immediate withdrawal at a U.N. Security Council meeting.

Turkey deployed around 150 troops in the Bashiqa area earlier this month with the stated aim of training an Iraqi militia to fight Islamic State.

At the same time, Obama “reinforced the need for Turkey to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iraq”.

According to Jaafari, UNSC complaint was his last resort. Ankara insisted the deployment was routine and necessary to protect the trainers, while Baghdad said it was unauthorised and protested to the Security Council.

The ministry said in a statement that Turkey would continue to move some of its troops out of Nineveh province, where the camp is based.

The base came under fire from the Islamic State on Wednesday, when militants fired rockets as they launched a wave of attacks against Kurdish forces.

Turkey’s UN Ambassador Halit Çevik said the deployment had been taken out of context and that additional troops had been sent to the camp to provide protection due to increasing threats.

The presence of Turkish troops in Bashiqa had created tension between Ankara and Baghdad. This is injustice against Turkey. “These actions violate Iraqi sovereignty and we can not allow this to happen”, al-Jaafari said. Perennially embattled Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi faced intense political pressure to end the Turkish deployment.