Mosul dominates Turkish FM's Saudi meeting

RIYADH (AA) – The situation in the Daesh-occupied Iraqi city of Mosul topped the agenda in a Thursday meeting between Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and his Saudi counterpart Adel bin Ahmed al-Jubeir.

According to diplomatic sources who spoke after the closed encounter, Cavusoglu also informed the Saudi minister about measures taken against the Fetullah Terrorist Organization after Turkey’s defeated July 15 coup bid.

The presence of Turkish troops in Iraq was recently criticized by Baghdad. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Turkey's military presence in the Bashiqa camp in northern Iraq would continue despite the parliament in Baghdad branding Turkish forces as “occupiers” earlier this week.

Last December, Turkey sent some 150 troops and about two dozen combat tanks to Bashiqa, located some 12 kilometers (7.46 miles) northeast of Mosul.

Meanwhile, Cavusoglu held a phone meeting with the EU's foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, which was dominated by the Bashiqa issue and Syria.

Cavusoglu was then received by Saudi monarch, King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud.