Turkish, Iraq PMs discuss cooperation against terrorism

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım and Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi spoke on the phone on Dec. 10, during which they discussed deepening cooperation against terrorism.

The two leaders agreed on the threat posed by both the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a statement issued by the Turkish Prime Ministry said on Dec. 10. 

"Our prime minister [Yıldırım] has confirmed our country's support for the fight against Daesh [ISIL] in Mosul and other regions conducted by Iraq," read the statement, according to Doğan News Agency. 

With the backing of the U.S.-led anti-ISIL coalition, Iraqi forces launched an offensive to liberate Mosul from the jihadists in October.  

On Dec. 10, an Iraqi commander said reinforcements had been sent to eastern Mosul after a major ISIL counterattack drove troops back earlier in the week, the Associated Press reported. Iraqi forces have only captured a handful of eastern Mosul neighborhoods since launching the offensive. 

Yıldırım also told the Iraqi prime minister that Turkey is confident that Iraq is taking the necessary steps against threats to Iraq's security and welfare, particularly blocking new immigration waves in Tel Afar and Mosul. 

Relations between Turkey and Iraq deteriorated after Turkey insisted that it will play a role in the battle to retake Mosul from ISIL, but Baghdad rejected the involvement and repeatedly called on Ankara to withdraw troops it had deployed at a camp in Bashiqa in northern Iraq. 

On Nov. 10, Defense Minister Fikri Işık had told Iraqi Ambassador to Turkey Dr. Hisham al-Alawi that Turkish troops would no longer be needed at the Bashiqa camp in northern Iraq if the area's security...