Top Turkish officials in Baghdad to defuse tension over troop deployment

Two of Turkey's top officials traveled to Baghdad on Dec. 10 in a bid to defuse a diplomatic standoff with the Iraqi government over the deployment of Turkish troops in northern Iraq, Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu announced during a meeting with visiting Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani on Dec. 9.

Accordingly, National Intelligence Organization (M?T) head Hakan Fidan and Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlio?lu were sent for a one-day visit to Baghdad.

"Our presence in Iraq is aimed at providing stability for this region," Davuto?lu said late on Dec. 9, during a meeting with Barzani, the president of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq, as seen in a video released by the Prime Ministry Press Office.

"Because we don't want to be neighbors with Daesh," Davuto?lu said, using an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), "Arbil needs to be strong for us not to be neighbors with Daesh. We will give all kinds of support to this aim to both Iraq and to the Iraqi Kurdistan region. Hosting you [Barzani] at a time when there are discussions like this is very important for us. It is a message for everybody," Davuto?lu said, recalling that he recently sent a letter to his Iraqi counterpart, Haider al-Abadi.

In his letter, Davuto?lu said Ankara would never take any step that would damage Iraq's sovereignty and territorial integrity, while noting Turkey would not deploy troops to the area until Baghdad's concerns were assuaged.

"And tomorrow [Dec. 10], Mr. Feridun [Sinirlio?lu] and Mr. Hakan [Fidan], our M?T undersecretary, will go to Baghdad. In any case, you can be sure that we will always give all kinds support against terror for Iraq and for you," Davuto?lu told Barzani....