Baghdad/Istanbul: Iraq’s Foreign Ministry summoned the Turkish ambassador on Saturday to demand that Turkey immediately withdraw hundreds of troops deployed in recent days to northern Iraq, near the Islamic State-controlled city of Mosul.
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But a Turkish official said Saturday that the troops were training Iraqi Kurdish fighters, known as the Peshmerga, who are fighting Islamic State on the ground in northern Iraq.
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.
The camp is used by a force called Hashid Watani (national mobilization), which is made up of mainly Sunni Arab former Iraqi police and volunteers who fled Mosul after it was captured by IS.
The founder of the training camp outside Mosul, former Nineveh Gov. Atheel al-Nujaifi, said the Turkish trainers were at his base at the request of al-Abadi and Defense Minister Khaled al-Obeidi.
Over the weekend, Turkey dispatched new troops to replace the ones deployed at a military camp in the town of Bashiqa in Mosul province in northern Iraq.
The new battalion, comprised of about 150 soldiers and 20-25 tanks, is described by Turkey as a routine troop rotation, but the Iraqi government claims it wasn’t consulted about the move beforehand – and it should have been.
IS overran swathes of territory north and west of Baghdad a year ago, and Iraqi forces backed by US-led air strikes are battling to drive the jihadists back.
Iraqi Defence Minister Khaled al-Obeidi also asked for the forces to be withdrawn in a telephone call with his Turkish counterpart Ismet Yilmaz, the ministry said on Sunday.
Mosul is under the control of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil).
Baghdad’s relations with Turkey have improved recently but remained strained by Ankara’s relationship with Barzani and differences over the Syrian civil war.
Baghdad calls deployment an incursion but Turkey’s prime minister says part of a long-running training mission.
Earlier, Hakim al-Zamili threatened Turkey with a military operation if the Turkish soldiers do not leave Iraq immediately.
Davutoglu said troops are part of assistance provided to the regional government in Northern Iraq to protect the territorial integrity, stability and peace in Iraq.
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The government of Baghdad says Turkey did not seek its permission before sending this force across its border.
