Iraq says deal reached over Bashiqa, Turkey says issue will be solved

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Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Saturday an agreement had been reached with Turkey over an Iraqi demand that Turkish forces withdraw from the Bashiqa camp near Mosul in the north of the country, Iraqi state TV reported.

However, a joint communique issued after Abadi met his Turkish counterpart Binali Yildirim in Baghdad did not refer to any such deal, but said both sides stressed that Bashiqa was an Iraqi camp.

Turkish forces have been stationed in Bashiqa since before a recent offensive against ISIL in northern Iraq.

Iraqi tribesmen step on posters bearing a portrait of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan crossed out during a protest against the continued presence of Turkish troops in northern Iraq on October 16, 2016 outside the governorate building in the southern city of Basra. Turkish troops are deployed in the Bashiqa area near the city of Mosul, and Turkey's prime minister has said that they will stay despite Baghdad's demands that they be withdrawn. /CFP Photo‍

Iraqi state television said Turkey had pledged to "respect the sovereignty of Iraq" and that Baghdad and Ankara agreed not to interfere in each other's domestic affairs.

Iraq and Turkey came to blows in October over the continued presence of Turkish forces in Bashiqa and elsewhere in northern Iraq, with each government summoning the other's ambassador just as the US-backed campaign to drive ISIL out of Mosul was set to begin.

At a news conference with Abadi, Turkish Prime Minister Yildirim said: "We discussed the issue of Bashiqa."

"We see that significant progress is being made in cleansing Daesh from the region,” he noted, using the Arabic acronym for ISIL.

“In line with this, we will solve this (Bashiqa) subject somehow in a friendly way."

(Story by Reuters)