Biden’s office refutes Turkish PM Davutoglu’s refutal:

Biden’s office refutes Turkish PM Davutoglu’s refutal:

Vice President Biden’s office issued a statement regarding call with Prime Minister Davutoglu of Turkey on December 14th and in that, stated:

1) Biden-Davutoglu Call:

“The Vice President spoke again today with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu regarding Turkey’s troop deployments in northern Iraq. The Vice President welcomed reports of the withdrawal of Turkish troops out of Camp Bashiqa as an important step to de-escalate recent tensions. The Vice President reiterated that any foreign military presence in Iraq must be with the full consent of the Iraq government.’’

2) Biden - Al-Abadi phone all

On December 16, Biden’s office issued another readout, this time his call with Iraq’s PM Al-Abadi. In that, Biden said: “The Vice President spoke with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi yesterday following his December 14 call with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. The Vice President noted the recent deployment of Turkish forces into northern Iraq had occurred without the prior consent of the Iraqi government. Both leaders welcomed initial indications of the withdrawal of some Turkish forces and agreed this should continue, reiterating that any foreign forces can only be present in Iraq with the coordination and permission of the Iraqi government.”

3) Obama Urged Erdogan in a phone call

After this phone call, President Obama also talked President Erdogan and his office issued a statement on Friday. In that, Obama “urged” Erdogan to pull back from N.Iraq:

“The President urged President Erdogan to take additional steps to deescalate tensions with Iraq, including by continuing to withdraw Turkish military forces, and reinforced the need for Turkey to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iraq.”

4) PM Davutoglu refutes Biden remarks to Abadi

Davutoglu, on the way back from Brussels, spoke to Turkish journalists yesterday, remarks published today and said “Biden didn’t urge us to pull back troops from Iraq.” Davutoglu, as reported on Hurriyet Daily News: “Another issue on the agenda is the presence of the Turkish military at a base near Mosul, publicized earlier this week, which created tension between Turkey and Iraq. Davutoğlu has spoken with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden twice on the issue, but he denied that Biden had urged Turkey to withdraw troops from Iraq.

“I didn’t get such a statement from Biden. I spoke twice with Biden and he never said such a thing. He advised us to carry out this issue through consensus with Iraq. In fact we all want the same thing anyway,” Davutolu said. Turkey’s security starts from its borders with Iraq and Syria, but because neither country can control their borders Turkey is obliged to step in, Davutoğlu said. “I wish they could control their borders and our troops were not obliged to go there,” he added.

The prime minister also stated that Ankara and Iraq “agreed in principle” on the Turkish deployment on Iraqi soil to train Iraqi citizens and volunteers, which is why he did not seek Iraqi consent for the most recent deployment.”

5) Biden’s Office Refutes Davutoglu’s Refutal

Saturday morning I reached out VP Biden’s office and asked about PM Davutoglu’s latest remarks and whether they could shed light on these different accounts from US and Turkish side.

Vice President Joe Biden’s aide, defended their originial readout in an email sent from White House. White House official sent this short refutal for PM Davutoglu and this time openly told Turkey redeploy its forces at Camp Bashiqa: “the readout is accurate. The Vice President urged Turkey to redeploy forces at Camp Bashiqa that were not previously coordinated or approved by the Iraqi government.”