Iraq's U.N. ambassador on Tuesday said that the bilateral talks between the neighboring states to end the row over the deployment of Turkish troops in northern Iraq, were proceeding favorably.
"We are solving it between Baghdad and Ankara bilaterally," Iraqi Ambassador Mohamed Ali Alhakim told reporters after Russia raised the Turkish deployment during a closed-door meeting of the United Nations Security Council. "We have not yet escalated it to the Security Council or to the United Nations."
"For us what is helpful is the bilateral discussion going on right now between Baghdad and Ankara, and it's going extremely well," he said, adding that Moscow had not consulted with Baghdad before raising the issue in the council. Alhakim reiterated that Iraq wanted the Turkish troops withdrawn.
Massoud Barzani, the head of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq, said on Tuesday that the presence of Turkish forces in Iraq was within the context of a pre-arranged deal between the two countries to train forces who will participate in the anti-Daesh Mosul operation.
Barzani also said the KRG is welcoming any attacks against Daesh, but Russian attacks are hurting the region by forcing it to close its airports, Kurdish media reported on Tuesday.
On Friday, 150 Turkish soldiers equipped with heavy weapons arrived on the outskirts of the Daesh-held Mosul province in Northern Iraq to train forces, while Baghdad demanded the withdrawal of soldiers. Iraq on Sunday, gave Turkey a 48 hour ultimatum to withdraw the forces or face "all available options."
PM Davutoğlu previously sent a letter to his Iraqi counterpart Haider Al-Abadi in which he emphasized Turkey's commitment to cooperation with Iraq, and said, "We will not deploy more troops to Bashiqa until your concerns about the matter are assuaged."
According to the statement released by the Prime Ministry on Sunday, Davutoğlu informed Al-Abadi about the military training program currently in progress in Bashiqa, duties and activities of Turkish soldiers and current developments about the matter.
