The prime minister said he therefore asked the Turkish government to be a good neighbor and refrain from interfering in Iraq’s internal affairs.
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“We have confirmation that Turkish forces, numbering about one armored regiment with a number of tanks and artillery, entered Iraqi territory… allegedly to train Iraqi groups, without a request or authorization from Iraqi federal authorities”, said a statement from Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s office, according to AFP. Turkey has in recent months been bombing Kurdish militant positions in northern Iraq.
A senior Kurdish military officer based on the Bashiqa front line, north of Mosul, told Reuters that additional Turkish trainers had arrived at a camp in the area overnight escorted by a Turkish protection force.
The presence of Turkish troops near the Islamic State-held city of Mosul in northern Iraq is a “violation” of worldwide law, Iraq’s president said Saturday.
The foreign ministry in Baghdad issued a statement that made no mention of the fight against IS but simply condemned an illegal “military campaign” on Iraqi soil.
Iraqi President Fuad Massum also described the Turkish deployment as “a violation of global norms and law”.
The Iraqi government on Saturday demanded withdrawal of Turkish troops deployed near the city of Mosul as part of training mission without permission of the Iraqi side.
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.
Turkish military instructors are active in a number of camps on Iraqi territory, located within the autonomous Kurdish region of Iraq. “One battalion has crossed into the region”, the source said.
Authorities from the Kurdistan region announced not long ago that the fresh troops are in Mosul to replace the current Turkish trainers.
Rather, it is a pre-existing “training facility established to support local volunteer forces’ fight against terrorism”, set up in coordination with the Iraqi defence ministry, he said.
While Ankara supports Barzani’s Kurdish Regional Government, it considers the PKK, a group seeking autonomy for Kurds in Turkey, as well as its Syrian affiliates, as terrorist organizations. They are there as part of routine training exercises.
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The Turkish prime minister added that more than 2,000 Iraqis had been trained at the camp for nearly a year. New troop movements now piss off the Iraqi Government.
