Haider al-Abadi

Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) President Massoud Barzani will visit Turkey on Dec. 9 to discuss coordination in the campaign against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), as well as the recent rift between Turkey and Iraq over the deployment of Turkish forces on Iraqi soil. 

Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) President Massoud Barzani will visit Turkey on Dec. 9, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavu?o?lu stated on Dec. 7. 

Turkey has pulled 350 troops back from the Turkish-Iraqi border after reaction from Baghdad over the deployment of more Turkish soldiers in Mosul. 

The troops were waiting on the border and will be sent to Iraq if Ankara and Baghdad agreed on the issue, sources told Hürriyet Daily News. 

Turkey has deployed nearly 600 troops to train Iraqi Sunni local guards in Mosul. 

Ankara would never take any step that would damage Iraq's sovereignty and territorial integrity, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu has said in a letter to his Iraqi counterpart, Haider al-Abadi, noting that Turkey would not deploy troops in the area until Baghdad's concerns are assuaged.

Baghdad on Dec. 5 demanded the immediate withdrawal of forces it said Turkey "illegally" sent into Iraq, which is struggling to assert its sovereignty while receiving foreign assistance against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Agence France-Presse reported.

Iraq's parliament voted unanimously on Nov. 2 to bar the government from passing important reforms without its approval in an effort to curb Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi amid discontent over his leadership style, lawmakers said.

Sixteen Turkish workers who were being held captive by Shiite militias in Iraq have been released, Turkish Ambassador to Baghdad Faruk Kaymakç? has said. 

"We took the workers 55-60 kilometers south of Baghdad on Karbala road in the morning and we are on the way back to the embassy right now," Ambassador Kaymakç? told the Hürriyet Daily News on Sept. 30. 

Sixteen Turkish workers who were being held captive by Shiite militias in Iraq have been released, Turkish Ambassador to Baghdad Faruk Kaymakç? has said. 

"We took the workers 55-60 kilometers south of Baghdad on Karbala road in the morning and we are on the way back to the embassy right now," Ambassador Kaymakç? told the Hürriyet Daily News on Sept. 30. 

President Barack Obama sits down with more than 100 leaders at the United Nations on Sept. 29 to push ahead with the US-led campaign against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group despite Russia's rival plan.

At least 23 people were killed and 68 others wounded when three bombs went off in mainly Shi'ite neighborhoods in central Baghdad on Sept. 17, security and medical sources said.