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Turkey Announces Troop Withdrawal From Northern Iraq

It did not say how many troops would be moved or to where.

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“Turkey, in recognition of the Iraqi concerns and in accordance with the requirements of the fight against Daesh [IS], is continuing to move military forces from Nineveh province that were the source of miscommunication”.

Turkey is pulling more troops out of northern Iraq in an effort to deescalate tensions with the Iraqi government, a day after U.S. President Barack Obama urged Ankara to withdraw its troops.

Baghdad labelled the deployment an incursion, but Turkey said it was to protect Turkish trainers working with Iraqi forces battling Isis. Turkey supports and respects the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Iraq, Erdoğan added.

A woman walks past a building which was damaged during the security operations and clashes between Turkish security forces and Kurdish militants, in the southeastern town of Silvan in Diyarbakir province, Turkey, December 7, 2015. To resolve the latest crisis, Ankara sent Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioğlu and spy chief Hakan Fidan to Baghdad last week for bilateral talks.

At the meeting, Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari asked the 15-member council to adopt a resolution that would demand Turkish withdrawal. Turkish authorities have continuously said the troops were there as part of the fight against terrorism.

“We have been calling on the Iraqi government to stop the activities of the PKK”.

“If the Iraqi government claims that it has full sovereignty over all its territory, then it is our right to expect that it prevents the use of Iraqi soil for terrorist attacks against our own territory”.

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During the phone call, Obama stressed the value of Turkish contributions to the anti-ISIL campaign, and the two leaders also discussed intensifying cooperation on Syria.

U.S. calls on Turkey to pull unauthorized forces from Iraq