Iraq FM Vows All Legal Measures If Turkey Refuses to Withdraw Troops

In addition, the Foreign Minister said that confronting terrorism requires strong coordination between Arab countries and that it is important for the Arab world to lead the war on terror. “Every option is on the table”, Jaafari said at the Arab League emergency meeting on the Turkish military intervention in Iraq. Last week, the Iraqi government brought the issue to the UN Security Council to demand the unconditional and full withdrawal of Turkish troops.

At the emergency Arab League meeting, foreign ministers of the Arab League denounced Turkey’s military presence in Iraq and called for the withdrawal of its troops.

But at the Cairo meeting, Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said Turkey has insisted on “using the term redeployment “.

The Turkish diplomat said Ankara is determined to negotiate with Baghdad to maintain mechanisms necessary to deepen bilateral cooperation against Takfiri terrorists.

The troops were in Iraq’s Nineveh province near territory held by the Islamic State group (IS) as part of a long-running Turkish program to help train forces fighting IS.

In response to protest from the Iraqi government, which said the deployment was unauthorized, Turkey announced Saturday that it had begun withdrawing troops “in accordance with the requirements of the fight against Daesh [ISIS]”.

Arabi condemned Turkish military deployment in Iraq as a violation of global law, at a meeting called by Baghdad to pressure Ankara on withdrawing the forces.

In a phone conversation the day earlier, Obama urged Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to pull out troops in a bid to de-escalate tensions and respect Iraq’s integrity as a sovereign nation.

Turkey has recently announced that it had started withdrawing its troops from Iraq.