Bashiqa

Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi announced early on Oct. 17 that an offensive had begun to retake Mosul, the country's second biggest city, from under the occupation of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

Turkey sent a delegation to Baghdad on Oct. 17 for talks with the Iraqi administration, aiming for Baghdad to reconsider its objection to Turkish troops stationed in northern Iraq.

Turkey has sent a delegation to Baghdad for talks in an effort to convince Iraq to reconsider its objection to the presence of Turkish troops in northern Iraq, as Turkey's president vowed that Ankara will not be excluded from an operation launched to retake Mosul from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

Ankara cannot be excluded from the operation launched to retake the Iraqi city of Mosul from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Oct. 17, stressing that Turkey continues to be under threat from that region.

Some 3,000 Iraqi forces trained by Turkey at the Bashiqa camp in northern Iraq are taking part in the U.S.-led operation to retake Mosul from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmuş said on Oct. 17.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Oct. 15 that Turkey's presence in the Bashiqa military base in northern Iraq will remain, amid the ongoing row with Baghdad, which has demanded the immediate withdrawal of the Turkish military from the camp. 

Turkey has contingency plans in place if an international coalition does not wish to include it in an upcoming operation to take Iraq's Mosul from jihadists, the Turkish president has said. 

Turkish Chief of General Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar is visiting the U.S. on Oct. 14 in order to participate at a meeting of the anti-Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) coalition, according to military sources. 

The top commanders of the anti-ISIL coalition forces last convened six months ago.

The United States is opposed to the participation of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in an upcoming campaign to liberate the Iraqi city of Mosul from jihadists, the U.S. State Department said Oct. 13. 

Any offensive on Mosul intimately concerns Ankara as any mistake could lead to thousands of people fleeing their homeland, harm the struggle against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and raise new complications in the fight against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), presidential spokesperson İbrahim Kalın has said.