Haidar al-Abadi

Iraq has declared victory over Islamic State (IS) militants, saying the last remnants of the extremist group have been driven from the country three years after it captured large swaths of Iraqi territory.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi said on December 9 that that Iraq has "completely liberated" the country.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi is demanding that this week's referendum on independence for the autonomous Kurdish region be annulled.

"The referendum must be annulled and dialogue initiated in the framework of the constitution. We will never hold talks on the results of the referendum," Abadi told Iraqi lawmakers on September 27.

Turkey's president and Iraq's prime minister late on Sept. 18 discussed the planned referendum in the Iraqi Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) slated for Sept. 25, according to Turkish presidential sources.      
The sources said President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Haidar al-Abadi spoke on the phone just a week before the independence referendum. 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Sept. 18 that the U.N. must undergo "structural changes" to reflect today's world.

"It is a necessity that the U.N. is reformed. Once again reform is on the agenda at this year's [U.N. General Assembly], but it is not the reform that we understand. What really matters is a reform of the U.N. structure.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Sept. 18 that he had formally demanded the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) region suspend an independence referendum that regional actors and Western powers fear could undermine a campaign against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). 

Turkey will not accept any attempt to declare independence in northern Iraq and to incorporate Kirkuk into the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım has said, vowing they will continue to stand with Iraqi Turkmen groups. 

"I came [today] from a liberated Mosul… This is the first time that the Iraqi army is fighting with Kurdish Peshmerga forces side by side against ISIL [Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant] … [But] winning the war means nothing unless we also win peace," Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi said during a keynote speech at the fifth annual Sulaymaniyah (Suli) Forum last week, entitled "Beyond Da

Not too long ago, it was only three months ago when Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi issued harsh statements against Turkey. During Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım's recent visit to Iraq, al-Abadi was constructive and is expected to visit Turkey in March or April. 

Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım will visit Iraq from Jan. 5 to 7 in a bid to settle ties after months of talks between diplomats aiming to resolve the crisis that emerged over Turkey's deployment of troops in the Bashiqa military camp in northern Iraq.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım is set to pay a two-day visit to Baghdad and Arbil in Iraq on Jan. 5 and 6, a government spokesperson has announced. 

"Our prime minister will go to Iraq on Thursday in order to open a new page [in relations] with the Baghdad government," Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmuş told reporters after a weekly cabinet meeting on Jan. 2.