06 October 2016•Update: 07 October 2016
By Meltem Bulur
ANKARA
Turkey seeks a solution in the aftermath of the Bashiqa issue despite Iraq’s negative attitudes, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Thursday.
Speaking at a joint news conference with his Italian counterpart Paolo Gentiloni in Ankara, Cavusoglu said the Iraqi parliament’s decision against the presence of Turkish troops at Bashiqa camp in northern Iraq “does not pose a serious problem if Iraq purifies itself from its domestic political concerns and drops the veto [referring to the Iraqi parliament's decision against Turkish troops].
“We always seek a solution, but Iraq, continues its negative attitudes about Bashiqa Camp because of its internal political turmoil and polarization,” he said.
On Tuesday, Iraqi parliament asked the government to send a diplomatic note to Turkey’s ambassador in Baghdad, describing Turkish troops in Iraq for the purpose of training Iraqi forces against Daesh as “hostile occupying forces”. Lawmakers also asked for trade and economic ties with Turkey to be reassessed.
On Wednesday, Iraq’s ambassador in Ankara was summoned to the Turkish Foreign Ministry and Baghdad also summoned Turkey’s ambassador.
Cavusoglu added he discussed latest developments in Syria with his Italian counterpart, saying both countries play an active role in the fight against Daesh as part of the U.S.-led coalition.
Gentiloni said the two countries should give a joint message against Russia and the Bashar al-Assad led Syrian administration.
"We should give a message to Russia and the Assad regime that they cannot go on like this. It is impossible to continue with the incidents that have occurred in eastern of Aleppo in the last 15 days. You cannot get anywhere by destroying a city where 300,000 people live."
He said the international community was responsible for finding a solution to the Syrian issue. "The Syrian issue should be resolved by taking suggestions from the United Nations."
Recalling that Turkey and Italy jointly deployed troops for the NATO mission in Afghanistan, Gentiloni said the two countries were now also jointly fighting against the Daesh terrorist organization.
Since Sept. 19, when the Syrian regime ended a week-long cease-fire brokered by the U.S. and Russia, almost 500 civilians have been killed and hundreds injured in attacks on Aleppo.
Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests – which had erupted as part of the Arab Spring uprisings – with unexpected ferocity.
The Syrian Center for Policy Research, a Beirut-based nongovernmental organization, has put the death toll from the six-year-old conflict at more than 470,000.
