Baghdad

Iraq on May 3 summoned the top Turkish diplomat in Baghdad to protest the Turkish defense minister's weekend visit to a military base in northern Iraq.

The Iraqi Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it handed the Turkish charge d'affaires a protest note over Hulusi Akar's visit to a Turkish base in northern Iraq.

Turkey will continue anti-terror operations with getting them "intensified," the nation's defense minister said on April 3.

"Until when? Until the last terrorist is neutralized. Thus, we will save our noble nation from the terror scourge that has been going on for many years and we will ensure security," Hulusi Akar said.

The Ezidi community, which escaped from Iraq's Sinjar district and took refuge in Duhok province after ISIL took control of the region, is unable to return to their homes because of oppression by the PKK and the terror group's extensions in the region, Turkey's consul general in Erbil said on April 1. 

Pope Francis has called for an end to violence and extremism, on the first ever papal visit to Iraq.

In a speech after being welcomed by Iraqi President Barham Salih, Pope Francis said he was very pleased to come to Iraq, which he described as the "cradle of civilisation".

The pontiff is making his first international trip since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Turkey has summoned Iran's ambassador to Ankara, Mohammed Farazmand, over the remarks by the Iranian envoy in Baghdad, who harshly slammed Turkey's anti-terror operations in the territories of Iraq.

Greece's Foreign Ministry on Thursday condemned the twin suicide bombings in the centre of Baghdad on January 21, expressing the country's full solidarity with the people of Iraq.

ISIL claimed responsibility early on Jan. 22 for Baghdad's suicide attack, via the group's Amaq news agency on its Telegram channel.

Two men blew themselves up in a crowded Baghdad market on Jan. 21, killing at least 32 people in Iraq's first big suicide bombing for three years, authorities said, describing it as a possible sign of the reactivation of the ISIL.

A rare twin suicide bombing killed at least 20 people on a bustling commercial street in the heart of Baghdad on Jan. 21, the ministry said, rupturing months of relative calm.

Turkey and Iraq are planning to establish a new mechanism to provide an exchange of information for the struggle against the PKK, Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said on Jan. 20.

The Turkish defense minister and the chief of general staff paid an official visit to Baghdad on Jan. 18.