Turkish FM Çavuşoğlu in Iraq, Mattis in Turkey

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu is set to pay an official visit to the Iraqi capital of Baghdad on Aug. 23, on the same day as U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis is set to visit Turkey.

Çavuşoğlu's visit was planned in order to lay grounds for a scheduled visit by Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to Turkey. 

Çavuşoğlu is scheduled to meet Iraqi President Fuad Masum, Council of Representatives head Salim al-Jabouri and Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari as well as Iraqi Turkmen politicians, the Foreign Ministry said in a written statement on Aug. 21.

Following his visit to Baghdad, Çavuşoğlu will head to the northern Iraqi city of Arbil to meet Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) President Masoud Barzani. 

Iraqi ambassador to Ankara Hisham al-Alawi had previously said that the Iraqi Prime Minister would visit Turkey after resolving a dispute over a Turkish deployment in the Bashiqa camp in northern Iraq.

"Positive developments on the ground will be a good way to resolve the existing issues and problems, including the Bashiqa camp issue. It will be a right environment for al-Abadi to come and visit Turkey," he said on July 27. 

Al-Alawi said they were working on a visit by Çavuşoğlu to Iraq and in return the Iraqi Foreign Minister to Turkey to lay grounds for al-Abadi's visit to Turkey. 

Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım invited his Iraqi counterpart to Turkey during a phone conversation between the two leaders on March 14 for a visit after the end of the Mosul offensive against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

Meanwhile, before coming to Turkey, Pentagon chief Mattis held talks in Baghdad on Aug. 22 to show U.S. support for Iraqi forces as they pressed an assault on...