Iraqi government

Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım invited his Iraqi counterpart, Haider al-Abadi, to Turkey during a phone conversation between the two leaders on March 14, Iraqi Ambassador to Turkey Hisham al-Alawi told a group of journalists a day later.

Iraqi government forces fighting to drive the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) from western Mosul have recaptured a main government building, a central bank branch, the Turkish consulate building and a museum that was ransacked by the group three years ago.

Iraqi forces advanced in west Mosul and fighters in Syria seized a key supply route to Raqqa yesterday as twin U.S.-backed offensives gained ground against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group.

Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) President Massoud Barzani was in Turkey on Feb. 26 and 27 for meetings with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım. Barzani's visit followed his meeting with Yıldırım in Germany on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.

A few days ago, the Iraqi army launched its second offensive in the last six months to recapture Mosul from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) that has controlled the city and its surroundings for almost three years. Although the first operation by the Iraqi forces, with the air support of the U.S.-led coalition, to shake ISIL's control over Mosul began on Oct.

The Embassy of Iraq staged on Sunday a photographic exhibition to muster support for the liberation of Mosul, bringing together Iraqi community members.

Turkey wants to see concrete steps from the central Iraqi government against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) presence in the Sinjar district, west of Mosul, the Turkish ambassador to Baghdad has said.      

Bahrain's Foreign Ministry summoned Iraq's ambassador in Manama to protest against remarks by Iraqi officials denouncing the execution of men convicted of a 2014 bomb attack, state news agency BNA said on Jan. 16, Reuters reported. 

The execution on Jan. 15 of three men, whose attack killed three policemen, has drawn condemnation from rights groups. Iran called it a "reckless" act. 

Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım is an engineer, a ship building engineer from the prestigious Istanbul Technical University Faculty of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering. He defines himself as a "sailor."  

Turkey and Iraq have agreed that Turkish troops will withdraw from the Bashiqa camp in northern Iraq after the end of the Mosul offensive, but Baghdad wants the camp to immediately be turned over to Iraq, Iraqi Ambassador to Ankara Hisham al-Allawi said.