Blaming former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for pursuing sectarian policies which paved the way for terror organizations like ISIL to find an opportunity to occupy Mosul, Çavuşoğlu said Turkey had to take its own measures to provide for its security against both ISIL and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

“Still, we support Iraq’s fight against terror. The Bashiqa camp was not founded recently. It was established within the knowledge of the Iraqi government with the objective of training local forces against DAESH [the Arabic acronym of ISIL],” he said.