Cavusoglu expressed gratitude, during an official visit to Qatar, for the ambition voiced by his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif to mend “unnecessary tension” between Turkey and Iraq.

“Turkey welcomes any attempt to mediate relations between Iraq and Turkey over the issue of the military base in Bashiqa,” Cavusoglu said at a Turkish school in Qatar.

Cavusoglu called tensions over the deployment of Turkish troops to northern Iraq to participate in the operation to retake the Islamic State (ISIS) held city of Mosul “unnecessary.”