Iraq is calling on Turkey to “immediately” withdraw the forces, including tanks and artillery, it has deployed in the country’s north without Baghdad’s consent, the premier’s office said on Saturday.
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A Turkish security source said on Friday the forces would provide training for Iraqi troops near Mosul, which is controlled by IS militant group.
As Masum, the Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi, urged authorities in Ankara to withdraw their troops and refrain from further violations that, he said, are bad for relations between the two neighboring countries and contribute to multiply tensions in the area.
The Iraqi foreign ministry in a statement on state television described the Turkish deployment as “an incursion” and rejected any military operation that was not co-ordinated with the federal government in Baghdad.
Earlier, a Turkish security source told the Reuters news agency that Turkish troops had already been in Iraq’s northern Kurdish region, which is semi-autonomous, and had moved to Mosul accompanied by armoured vehicles, in a move which coalition countries targeting ISIL were aware of.
“This camp was established as a training camp for a force of local volunteers fighting terrorism”, he said in a speech to a labour union that was broadcast live by NTV news channel.
The Turkish deployment is just the latest in a series of challenges he faced over the past week that have pushed him to take a hard line on foreign forces helping Iraq against IS, which overran large parts of Iraq a year ago.
He said the deployment of hundreds of Turkish forces happened without the approval or knowledge of the Iraqi government and constituted a violation of national sovereignty.
“I say to those who have gone back on their word that we will redouble our efforts to liberate our city [Mosul]”, al-Nujaifi concluded.
Mosul is the principal domain of the IS in northern Iraq, and the Iraqi army has been unable to regain control of it despite often promising the city’s inhabitants that it would “liberate them” from the jihadists.
Apparently so, according to the Turkish government, which says over 2,500 Kurdish Peshmerga soldiers and officers have attended weapons and artillery training provided at the camp.
Turkey has also conducted dozens of air raids in recent months against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a Turkish-Kurdish rebel group which has bases in Iraq.
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Some 600 Turkish soldiers and 25 tanks have been sent to Bashiqa in northern Iraq.
