Some Turkish troops leave northern Iraq’s Bashiqa camp

Thousands of Shiite militiamen and supporters rallied against the presence of Turkish troops in Iraqi territory and demanded their immediate withdraw from the area, a show of strength by the country’s powerful militias and the Shiite political rivals of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. He also asked the Foreign Ministry to complain to the United Nations about the presence of Turkish troops.

The training mission has been in operation since March and is not assigned combat duties.

“Witnesses confirmed that they saw the Turkish army withdrawing from Camp Zilkan… toward the Turkish border”, Shabaki said.

Anadolu Agency, quoting unnamed military officials, said Monday that a 10 or 12-vehicle convoy, including tanks, had left the Bashiqa camp and was heading toward northern Iraq.

Against this backdrop, the Turkish embassy in Baghdad recently called on its citizens to steer clear of all Iraqi provinces except those located in the northern Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) area. “It is out of the question, for now, to pull them out”, Erdogan said.

The reports did not say if the troops were going back to Turkey or would be sent elsewhere in Iraq.

“If Turkey thinks Iraq is busy with fighting Daesh and it can seize the opportunity to deploy troops then it should think twice before making such a mistake”, said Abu Muntathar al-Moussawi, a local commander in Iranian-backed Asaib Ahl al-Haq paramilitary group. Ankara subsequently halted new deployments.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the number of troops deployed in northern Iraq may fluctuate.

“All that we have in this respect are the minutes of a session that took place in 1983”, said al-Jaafari, “which were later canceled by parliament in 2009”.

Tensions remain high, with Russian Federation on Sunday claiming that one of its destroyers in the Aegean Sea had fired warning shots to avoid a collision with a Turkish fishing boat.