Iraq calls on Turkey to immediately withdraw troops from the country

The assertion by the Iraqi prime minister’s workplace confirmed a Turkish regiment and a number of other tanks & artillery entered Iraqi territory with out Baghdad’s approval.

“The Iraqi authorities call on Turkey to… immediately withdraw from Iraqi territory”, a statement from his office said.

The founder of the camp, former Ninevah governor Atheel al Nujaifi, said the Turkish trainers were called in by Iraq’s Prime Minister and defence minister.

According to the Anadolu report, the first Turkish troops were sent to the region more than two years ago aimed to train the Kurdish forces.

The Kurdish regional government – which has forces in the area where the Turkish troops deployed and close ties with Ankara – indicated that Turkey aimed to expand a camp near the main IS hub of Mosul.

Iraq’s Foreign Ministry has summoned the Turkish ambassador to demand that Turkish troops be immediately withdrawn from northern Iraq.

The United States is aware of Turkey’s deployment of hundreds of Turkish soldiers to northern Iraq but its move is not part of the U.S.-led coalition’s activities, two USA defense officials said on Friday. The compound near Mosul is in the area claimed by both the Iraqi Kurds and the central government in Baghdad.

“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”.

KRG deputy peshmerga minister, Major-General Karaman Kemal Omar, said that the training given by Turkish soldiers made a huge contribution to an operation by Iraqi Kurdish forces to retake Sinjar district from Daesh on November 12.

Ankara has carried out dozens of military incursions into northern Iraq to pursue the Kurdistan Workers party (PKK) who have killed many soldiers and police in Turkey’s southeastern Diyarbakir province as they wage a war of independence.

“Another team arrived to the camp to replace the previous team, and the mission of the (new) force that came was only to protect the trainers and return the previous team to Turkey”, he said.

The official said the training battalion equipped with armored vehicles is in the Bashiqa region close to Mosul.