Haider al-Abadi

Sevil Erku?sevil.erkus@hurriyet.com.trTurkish forces have killed nearly 17 members of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) when jihadists tried to sneak into the training camp in the Bashiqa region of northern Iraq late Jan. 8, Turkish sources told Hürriyet Daily News.

Turkey should w?thdraw any military forces in Iraq that are "not authorized by the Iraqi government," U.S. President Barack Obama has told Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, according to the White House.

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant's (ISIL) territory shrank by 40 percent from its maximum expansion in Iraq, and by 20 percent in Syria in 2015, as international forces pushed it out of several cities, the U.S.-led coalition fighting it said on Jan. 5. 

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon offered Dec. 30 to help Iraq restore basic services to Ramadi and allow refugees to quickly return to the city after it was recaptured from jihadists.

Ban made the offer during a telephone conversation with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi who visited Ramadi after his forces drove out the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi visited Ramadi on Dec. 29, a day after federal forces announced the liberation of the city from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), clinching a landmark victory.

The United States on Dec. 28 welcomed the Iraqi forces' victory over the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group in the city of Ramadi.

"We commend the government of Iraq and the brave Iraqi forces that are displaying tremendous perseverance and courage in this fight," U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said in a written statement.

Five Turkish soldiers sustained injuries on Dec. 27 in the second attack this month on Bashiqa training camp in northern Iraq, Turkish sources have said.

The first attack at the Sunni military camp in the Bashiqa region of Iraq's Mosul province occurred on Dec. 16, when Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants fired Katyusha ÇNRA projectiles at the camp. 

Daily Hürriyet's Ahmet Hakan has interviewed prominent political scientist and journalist Soli Özel on seven recent subjects related to Turkish foreign policy.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Dec. 19 that the withdrawal of Turkish troops from the Bashiqa training camp near Mosul would "continue."

In the same statement it said the problem arose between the Turkish and Iraqi governments over the Turkish troops there because of a communications mistake regarding the deployment of reinforcements to the camp earlier in the month.

U.S. President Barack Obama has urged Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an to pull troops out of Iraq, amid a row that has split key members of the coalition fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).