Iraqi Kurdish leader to visit Turkey

The president of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan Region, Masoud Barzani, and Iraqi Defense Minister Khaled al-Obeidi will visit Turkey, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said.

The meetings were scheduled before Turkish soldiers were deployed to provide training for Iraqi troops in Mosul, Çavuşoğlu said in his statement on the Turkish TV 24 channel.

"With the intervention of some countries, the Iraqi government reacted to Turkey strongly over the deployment of Turkish troops in Mosul. But our Ambassador briefed the Iraqi government about the troops and emphasized that the Turkish activity in Mosul is not against the independence of Iraq ," Minister Çavuşoğlu said.

On December 5, Turkish troops reached Mosul's Bashiqa, located 12 kilometers northeast of the center, in routine training exercises as a part of the fight against Daesh.

The Turkish Armed Forces has trained 2,700 Peshmerga, 2,400 Sunni and 1,400 Turkmen soldiers as a part of the fight against Daesh so far.