Iraq’s Abadi requests United Nations take up issue of Turkish troops

“This is a clear message that the Iraqi politicians and the people of Iraq are against this intrusion into the sovereignty of Iraq”, said Saad al-Muttalibi, an Iraqi lawmaker and close Maliki ally.

The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said on Friday that Turkey had no plans to withdraw troops and would continue with the training process “in agreement” with Iraq.

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has expressed support to his Iraqi counterpart, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, over Turkey’s deployment of troops in northern Iraq.

Tens of thousands of supporters and Shiite militiamen rallied on Saturday and demanded that Turkish troops promptly pull away from a display of strength by the nation ‘s strong militia groups, Iraqi land as well as the Shiite political opponents of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.

U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power, the current council president, said Friday night that the Iraqi ambassador had delivered a letter in Arabic, but it had not yet been translated.

“This is considered a flagrant violation of the principles of the U.N. Charter, and a violation of Iraqi territorial integrity and sovereignty of the state of Iraq”. Baghdad issued an ultimatum demanding that Turkish troops leave its territory but Turkey refused to comply with it.

Iran condemns Turkey’s deployment of troops to Iraq and recommends Turkish officials to stop carrying out measures which would lead to their country’s isolation, he said.

On December 4, the Turkish military deployed hundreds of troops as well as heavy weaponry to the camp of Bashiqa near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, which has been under the control of the Takfiri Daesh terrorists since June 2014.

The demonstration Saturday, called for by the umbrella group of Shiite militias in Iraq whose power rivals that of the Iraqi army, was attended by militia leaders and some Shiite politicians.

Additionally, protesters burned the Turkish flag in Iraq’s southern oil-rich city of Basra in protest against Turkey’s military incursion into Iraqi soil.

According to Iraq’s letter, Turkey deployed the troops “without any consultation or coordination with the federal government of Iraq”.

Turkish foreign ministry Under Secretary Feridun Sinirlioglu and intelligence chief Hakan Fidan also met with the Iraqi premier and foreign minister on Thursday, Davutoglu told Biden, the sources said.

And Iraq’s top cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, also criticised the Turkish deployment, which he said was done “under the pretext” of supporting the war against IS.