Sinirlioğlu and Fidan heading to Baghdad

The Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Feridun Sinirlioğlu and the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) chief Hakan Fidan are paying an official visit to Baghdad, the capital of Iraq, on Thursday.

This visit follows that of the president of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan Region, Masoud Barzani, to Turkey last week.

Barzani met with MİT Chief Hakan Fidan, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, respectively, during his official visit on Wednesday.

The meetings on December 9 mainly focused on cooperation against terrorism in the region, according to presidential sources.

Barzani's visit came amid a diplomatic row with Baghdad over Turkish troops based near Mosul in northern Iraq, where they are training Kurdish Peshmerga fighters.

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.

However, Iraq reacted strongly to Turkey over deployment of Turkish troops in Mosul, and the country urged Turkey to withdraw its forces from Bashiqa.

The Baghdad City Council approved an embargo on Turkish exports to Iraq on December 9 in retaliation for the deployment of Turkish troops to Mosul over the deployment.

Turkey insists that it respects the territorial integrity of Iraq and it has no intention of intervening in Iraq.