Bashiqa

Türkiye and Iraq will appoint a general each to a new security center planned for Baghdad, defense sources told local media on Aug. 22.

The announcement follows a landmark agreement signed last week aimed at bolstering military and security cooperation between the neighbors.

The pressure on Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is building as the date for the Sept. 25 referendum on independence nears; unsurprisingly, Turkey's attitude is also hardening considerably.

KRG leader Massoud Barzani, on the other hand, seems determined to go through with the referendum unless he is provided with concrete reassurances on the KRG's sovereignty rights.

Turkey and Iraq will discuss the issue of the Bashiqa military camp, which has Turkish troops, close to Mosul, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on Aug. 23. 

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. 

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu is set to pay an official visit to the Iraqi capital of Baghdad on Aug. 23 in order to lay grounds for a scheduled visit by Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to Turkey. 

Referring to an anticipated visit by a Turkish delegation to Iraq, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced on Wednesday that the “imminent” withdrawal of Turkish troops stationed in Iraq.

“A Turkish delegation will soon visit Iraq to discuss arrangements for the removal of Turkish forces in Iraq,” Abadi said.

Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım congratulated his Iraqi counterpart, Haider al-Abadi, on Iraq's declared victory against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in a phone call on July 19 and offered Turkey's help to rebuild the devastated city, Iraqi Ambassador to Ankara Hisham al-Alawi has said. 

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 Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) President Massoud Barzani is set to meet senior Turkish officials for the second time in a week in Istanbul on Feb. 26. 

The visit comes after Iraq and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding on Feb. 20 to study the construction of a pipeline to export crude oil from the northern Iraqi fields of Kirkuk via Iran.

Ankara and Baghdad are waiting to sign a memorandum of understanding regarding the Turkish Cooperation and Development Agency's (TİKA) future role in the neighboring country after Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) is removed from Iraq.