Iraq welcomes Turkish decision to withdraw troops from the north

Turkey responded by accusing Iraq of sabotaging the fight against Islamic State (IS, previously ISIS/ISIL).

Turkey has said it has been running a training program in a camp established in Bashiqa, near Mosul, to provide training to Iraqi volunteers as part of the fight against Daesh terrorist group.

Turkey withdrew some troops this week, moving them to another base inside Iraq’s Kurdistan region, but Baghdad said they should pull out completely. In their statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said there had been “a lack of communication” with Iraq regarding the deployment of their troops.

The reason behind the diplomatic spat between Ankara and Baghdad was the recent deployment of Turkish military troops to Bashiqa, near Mosul.

The move followed an appeal from President Barak Obama, who called Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday and urged him “to take additional steps to de-escalate tensions with Iraq”.

Turkey announced it would continue to withdraw its troops in Iraq in a move to ease tensions with its neighbor.

On Tuesday, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that the presence of Turkish forces in Bashiqa does not pose a threat to the territorial integrity of Iraq but represents a strong entity against terrorism.

Turkey has 48 hours to withdraw its forces from Iraq.

Turkey said it will continue to coordinate with the Baghdad government in the war against ISIS.

Between 150 and 300 soldiers and 20 tanks were deployed to the area, according to one Turkish military official last week.

Turkey has consistently claimed the troops were deployed in order to train local Kurdish Peshmerga forces, adding that the move complied with previous agreements between Ankara and Baghdad.