Iraq’s Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi on Friday addressed the nation and called for Turkish troops to withdraw from the country.
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The Turkish government has already missed a deadline set by Iraq to pull out the troops from Bashiqa, prompting Baghdad to threaten to follow the case through the United Nations Security Council. “Armenpress” reports the aforementioned citing Sputnik International.
Turkey has a long-running training program at a base near the city of Mosul, IS’s main hub in Iraq, but the deployment last week expanded Ankara’s presence there.
The letter, which was seen by reporters, was sent after Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi instructed the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs to lodge a formal complaint with the UN.
Iraq has rejected the claims, stressing that the Turkish military presence had not been requested.
A senior Iranian cleric has warned that Turkey’s illegal deployment of troops to northern Iraq would be detrimental to Ankara and the entire region.
A statement by Abadi’s office said the incursion by Turkish troops “is blatant violation of the provisions and principles of the UN Charter and a violation to the sovereignty of the Iraqi state, which happened without the knowledge and consent of the Iraqi authorities”.
“But we are not here to doubt the ability of our commander-in-chief, and as a brigade we are ready”, said Rubaie, who wore a military uniform and had a large Iraqi flag on a pole resting on his shoulder.
Turkey has had troops near the Islamic State-held city of Mosul in northern Iraq since a year ago but the arrival of additional troops last week has sparked an uproar in the country.
“The Iraqi government is responsible for protecting Iraq’s sovereignty and must not tolerate any side that infringes upon on it, whatever the justifications and necessities”, Karbalai’i said in a weekly sermon.
The Iraqi Ministry of foreign Affairs announced that it had officially submitted the complaint to the UN International Security Council.
Turkey refuses, saying the troops were deployed to protect trainers working with Kurdish Peshmerga forces fighting the Islamic State group.
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A number of Iraqi military and political figures – including former prime minister and current lawmaker, Nouri al-Maliki, and the commander of Iraq’s Popular Mobilizations Forces, Hadi al-Ameri – were present in the rally.
