US officials in Washington said they were aware of Turkey’s move, but it was not coordinated with the anti-IS coalition operating in northern Iraq.
Advertisement
It also stressed that the Turkish troops entered “without the request or authorization from the Iraqi federal authorities”, which is a “serious breach of Iraqi sovereignty”.
Turkish army sources said Saturday that they had been training fighters across four provinces in northern Iraq to combat Daesh.
IS overran swathes of territory north and west of Baghdad previous year, and Iraqi forces backed by US-led air strikes are battling to drive the jihadists back.
The Turkish forces entered “without the approval or knowledge of the Iraqi government”, it said.
Writing in the Turkish web news portal Diken, Amberin Zaman said the Turkish military’s presence on such a large scale may be a reflection of a tacit understanding between Turkey, the KRG and the Iraqi government in Baghdad, all of whom are deeply uneasy with Iran’s increasing meddling in Iraqi affairs. “One battalion has crossed into the region”, the source said.
Mosul has been under the control of IS militants since a year ago.
“If we let Turkish forces get away with this and don’t do something then other forces will feel they can do the same – America, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other Islamic countries”, said Hakim al-Zamili, the Head of Parliament’s Security and Defence Committee.
It was formed by former governor Atheel al-Nujaifi, who is close to Turkey.
“No further forces will be deployed to Bashiqa until concerns of the Iraqi government are overcome”, Davutoglu said in a letter addressed to his Iraqi counterpart, Haider al-Abadi.
He said the Turkish defence minister had explained the deployment as necessary to protect military advisers training Iraqi forces some 30 km (19 miles) northeast of Mosul in preparation for a campaign to retake the city.
Powerful Iraqi Shi’ite Muslim armed groups have pledged to fight a planned deployment of USA forces to the country. “This is a part of that training”, a Turkish official told Reuters.
Baghdad’s relations with Turkey had improved recently but remained strained by Ankara’s relationship with Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region and differences over the Syrian civil war.
“About 100 troops are now based in the vicinity of Mosul to provide training to the Kurdish Peshmerga fighters”, Bapir added, pointing out “the estimated number of these troops could reach 3000”.
Advertisement
Turkey has trained 2,500 troops from the peshmerga forces and 1,250 Arab troops, and aims to increase this number to 14,000 troops, the pro-government Sabah reported, citing people it didn’t identify.
