Turkey to remove troops from northern Iraq

Turkey's foreign ministry says it will continue to move some of its troops out of a province in northern Iraq saying their deployment was a 'miscommunication'.

Protesters burn a Turkish flag during a demonstration calling for the withdrawal of Turkish troops from northern Iraq, in Basra. Source: AAP

Turkey has acknowledged a "miscommunication" with Iraq over its deployment of troops to the Bashiqa military base in northern Iraq, Turkey's foreign ministry said on Saturday.

The ministry said Turkey would continue to move some of its troops out of Nineveh province, where the camp is based. It did not say how many troops would be moved or where to.

Turkey deployed hundreds of troops in the Bashiqa area this month, with the stated aim of protecting its military personnel training Iraqi militia to fight against Islamic State. Baghdad has criticized the deployment and demanded Turkey pull them out.

Turkey's statement comes a day after U.S. President Barack Obama urged Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in a phone call to "de-escalate tensions" with Iraq by continuing to withdraw Turkish forces.

Some troops were withdrawn earlier this week to another base inside Iraq's Kurdistan region, but Baghdad said they should withdraw completely.

"Turkey ... acknowledges the miscommunication with the government of Iraq over the deployments of Turkish protection forces ...," the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in the statement.

"Turkey, in recognition of the Iraqi concerns and in accordance with the requirements of the fight against Daesh, is continuing to move military forces from Nineveh province that were the source of miscommunication," it said, using an Arabic term for Islamic State.

Ankara has said the deployment of the force protection unit was due to heightened security risks near the camp, which is close to the Islamic State-held Iraqi city of Mosul.

The base came under fire from Islamic State on Wednesday, when militants fired rockets as they launched a wave of attacks against Kurdish forces. Turkish armed forces said its soldiers returned fire and four had been lightly wounded in the incident.

Iraq has taken its criticism of the deployment to the U.N. Security Council, which met on the issue on Friday. Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari asked the body to adopt a resolution demanding Turkey withdraw its troops immediately.