Iraq asked Turkey to “respect good neighbourly relations and to withdraw immediately from the Iraqi territory”.
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Mosul fell to IS in June 2014 and is the group’s main hub in Iraq.
“We have trained our Iraqi brothers in the Bashiqa camp, and others, to fight against ISIL”. Consider this as a hostile act.
The troops, which Baghdad said had tanks and artillery, were sent to the camp in Nineveh province, some 80 kilometres (50 miles) from the Turkish border, where Ankara’s forces have been training Sunni fighters hoping to retake Mosul from the jihadists. Turkey says the departure of President Bashar al-Assad must be part of any long-term solution to the Syrian conflict, and is among a number of foreign states that support rebels fighting his forces.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s office said foreign assistance is welcomed but need to have a proper approval from the government.
Iraqi President Fouad Massoum described the deployment as “a violation of global norms and law” and has insisted Turkey withdraw its troops.
On the contrary, it deployed about 150 troops to northern Iraq to replace its current unit, Turkish military sources told the country’s semi-official Anadolu Agency on Friday.
The camp, north of Mosul, is used by a force called Hashid Watani (national mobilization), which was formed by a local Iraqi governor with close ties to Turkey.
The US was aware of Turkey’s deployment of its soldiers to northern Iraq, but the move is not part of the US-led coalition’s activities, according to defence officials in Washington.
Major General Karaman Kemal Onder who is responsible from operations in peshmerga forces said the training given by Turkish troops helped the Kurdish forces play a determining role in the liberation of Sinjar.
Some 600 Turkish soldiers and 25 tanks have been sent to Bashiqa in northern Iraq. “One battalion has crossed into the region”, a source said, declining to say exactly how many soldiers had been deployed.
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Solmaz, for his part, believes there is no reason for Baghdad to be angered by the presence of Turkish forces in the country as they have been on Iraqi soil for “almost three years”.
