350 additional Turkish troops waiting on the border

A total of 350 troops, who were on their way to Bashika, are waiting on the border and will be sent if Baghdad and Ankara reach a deal on the issue.

On Saturday Ankara announced that Turkey deployed a battalion of its military personnel in Bashika bases to ensure the security of Turkish military trainers, who have been training Peshmerga in the region for more than two years.

Iraqi central government strongly opposed Turkish military deployment and gave a 48-hour-ultimatum for Turkish military withdrawal while Northern Iraqi Regional Government welcomed it.

Turkey declined to withdraw its troops from the training base, which is close to an area controlled by Daesh, but decided to halt further transfer of troops.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu informed the Iraqis of his country's decision to halt further deployment to his Iraqi counterpart in a letter on December 6.

Regarding the issue, Turkish PM called a security meeting in Ankara where he discussed the issue with top military commanders. Then he held a cabinet meeting and decided to make the additional troops waiting at the border, “until the sensitivities of Iraq are addressed."

Meanwhile, Turkish defense minister had a telephone conversation with his Iraqi counterpart on the issue, though further information about their discussion was not shared with media.