Iraqi, Turkish Prime Ministers Meet in Baghdad

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Abadi held a closed-door meeting on Saturday with his Turkish counterpart Binali Yildirim in Baghdad, Turkish media reported.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Yildrim arrived on an official two-day visit in the Iraqi capital earlier in the day, accompanied by a senior delegation, and is also expected to meet Iraqi President Fuad Masum, Parliament Speaker Salim al-Jabouri as well as Iraqi Kurdistan’s government, the Anadolu news agency reported.

Relations between Turkey and Iraq deteriorated after Turkey dispatched its troops in Iraq in late 2015 on the pretext of helping the Iraqi militia fight Islamic State (IS, banned in Russia), without the Iraqi government's consent.

Please to welcome Turkish PM @BA_Yildirim to Baghdad today for wide ranging talks and agreements pic.twitter.com/vy5b13Pj5V

— Haider Al-Abadi (@HaiderAlAbadi) 7 января 2017 г.

​In October, the Turkish parliament extended a mandate allowing Turkish troops to be deployed in Iraq and Syria to combat terrorists for another year.

Following this step, the Iraqi parliament adopted a resolution voicing protest against Turkish military presence in the Bashiqa camp in northern Iraq, located about 19 miles northeast of Mosul. The lawmakers call on the government to take necessary legal and diplomatic measures, including a review of the economic relations between the two countries. Ankara has condemned the resolution.

 

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