Iraqi PM says Turkey not respecting agreement to withdraw troops

A member of the Iraqi security forces holds an Iraqi flag at a government complex in the city of Ramadi, December 28, 2015. [Photo/Agencies]

Davutoglu also congratulated Abadi after Iraqi forces retook the center of the city of Ramadi this week, a victory that could help vindicate the Iraqi leader's strategy for rebuilding the military after stunning defeats.

MILITARY ACTION

Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said earlier in the day that his government was committed to exhausting peaceful diplomatic avenues to avoid a crisis with Turkey, its northern neighbor, but insisted that all options remained open.

"If we are forced to fight and defend our sovereignty and riches, we will be forced to fight," he told reporters in Baghdad.

US Vice-President Joe Biden, in a phone call with Davutoglu earlier this month, welcomed the Turkish troops' withdrawal and urged Ankara to continue trying to cooperate with Baghdad.

Biden will visit Turkey on Jan 23 and will meet Erdogan and Davutoglu, sources from the Turkish prime minister's office said on Wednesday.

After the diplomatic row began, the Bashiqa base came under fire from Islamic State when militants fired rockets in an attack on Kurdish Peshmerga forces in the area. The Turkish military said its soldiers returned fire and four had been lightly wounded in the incident.