Iraq appeals to United Nations and demands Turkey withdraw troops from its north

They called on Ankara to immediately withdraw its forces from Iraq calling the actions of Turkish authorities “a violation of Iraq’s sovereignty” and “occupation”.

“The Iraqi minister informed him of the developments around the unlawful introduction of Turkish troops in northern Iraq and Bagdad’s complaint to the UN Security Council over his issue”.

The protesters in Baghdad said the deployment is a blatant violation of Iraq’s sovereignty, asking the government to pressure Ankara for the withdrawal of the forces.

The country’s Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi called for the removal of Turkey’s soldiers from Iraq, saying that foreign forces were not needed to fight the Islamic State in the country.

Tensions have been running high between Baghdad and Ankara since December 4, when Turkey deployed some 150 soldiers, equipped with heavy weapons and backed by 20 to 25 tanks, to the outskirts of Mosul, the capital of Iraq’s Nineveh province. Iraq, however, denies any such deal.

Turkey deployed last Friday hundreds of troops and heavy weaponry to areas around the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, which is now occupied by the Daesh Takfiri group.

The peshmerga in particular have been a consistent adversary against the Islamic State in Iraq.

Iraq has already tried to solve the crisis with “peaceful and diplomatic means”, Abadi said in the televised address.

On Dec. 11, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said that Defense Minister İsmet Yılmaz would shortly pay a visit to Baghdad upon a consensus reached with Iraqi Foreign Minister İbrahim al-Jaafari.

His representative, Ahmed al-Safi, relayed the words of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani during a Friday sermon in the city of Karbala.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan says his country will not bow to Iraqi demands to withdrawn Turkish troops from northern Iraq.

“If the Iraqi government can not take measures to thwart terrorist attacks that maybe carried out from there against our country, we will take these measures ourselves”.

“But we are not here to doubt the ability of our commander-in-chief, and as a brigade we are ready”, said Rubaie, who wore a military uniform and had a large Iraqi flag on a pole resting on his shoulder.