Iraq Denies Reports on Closure of Foreign Embassies in Baghdad

In a statement on Tuesday, the Iraqi foreign ministry rejected media reports that some embassies and foreign diplomatic missions have closed their offices in Baghdad.

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs asserts the invalidity of such reports which lack credibility. No embassy or mission left the capital,” the statement said.

“The Ministry is on regular contact with all missions in Baghdad and the provinces in order to provide the best ways and conditions of their work to serve the citizens and the interests of their own countries,” the statement added.

The statement, however, said that during crises and as a procedure, the foreign missions sometimes take precautionary measures such as reducing unnecessary staff or redeploy their employees within the country.

"On the other hand, some of the missions and embassies increase the number of their employees because of the security, political and humanitarian developments in the country,” the ministry noted.

Meantime, the Turkish foreign minister said Ankara has evacuated staff from its consulate in the southern Iraqi city of Basra over a deteriorating security situation.

Ahmet Davutoglu said on his Twitter account Tuesday that consular staff had crossed the Iraqi border into Kuwait. He did not provide further details.

The evacuation comes a week after militants from the al-Qaeda inspired group, known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), seized 49 people from the Turkish consulate in Mosul. Thirty-one Turkish truck drivers were also seized by the group there.