PM spokesman: Turkey showing flexibility over Iraq deployment dispute

(IraqiNews.com) Baghdad – Turkey is exhibiting diplomatic “flexibility” concerning the resolving of its dispute with Iraq over the deployment of its forces there, a spokesman of the Iraqi government said Saturday.

Iraqi is still adhering to a “diplomatic response concerning the Turkish military presence crisis between Baghdad and Ankara,” Saad al-Hadithi, a spokesperson for Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, said in a press statement. He said that while Turkey has shown flexibility towards resolving the crisis, “messages it has conveyed were not up to the aspirations of the Iraqi government.”

Hadithi said that while Turkey sent messages through its diplomatic channels and following a Turkish delegation’s recent visit to Baghdad that discussed an end to the crisis, content of those messages did not clearly disapprove of military presence

Disputes had flared between Ankara and Baghdad over the past weeks as Turkey maintains troops at a military base in Bashiqa, Nineveh, where Turkey says it trains locals in their fight against Islamic State militants, occasionally defying Iraqi calls to withdraw troops.

On Friday, Turkish defense minister Fikri Isic said Abadi’s recent media remarks had shown an understanding of Turkish military presence on Iraqi soil.