Iraqi politicians divided over Turkish troop deployment in Mosul

On Dec. 4, approximately 150 Turkish soldiers and about 25 tanks were sent to a camp near the town of Bashiqa – located northeast of Mosul in Iraq’s northern Nineveh province – to provide training to Iraqi volunteers as part of the fight against the Daesh militant group. An unspecified number of tanks also left.

Nevertheless, Iraq continues to insist on the “immediate” withdrawal of the latest deployment of Turkish troops which Baghdad views as “illegal” and a violation of Iraqi sovereignty and the UN Charter. The training mission has been in operation since March and is not assigned to combat duties.

The move came on the heels of recent spat between Ankara and Baghdad over the fresh deployment of Turkish military trainers in Bashiqa camp that prompted an outcry from Baghdad that said it was not notified in advance.

Turkey withdrew troops Monday from a north Iraq camp, a lawmaker and witnesses said, after a deployment which Baghdad said went ahead without its permission and that sparked a diplomatic row.

The Turkish government enjoys close relations with semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region in Iraq.

The 14 points included the refusal to allow Turkish forces onto Iraqi territory and the need to resolve outstanding differences between the central government in Baghdad and northern Iraq’s Kurdish Regional Government (KRG).

“Turkish troops in Mosul are not there as combatants; they are trainers…”

Pointing his pistol towards an image of Erdogan, Amjad Salim, a local commander in the Badr Organisation in Basra, said: “We are on high alert now awaiting orders from our commanders to set fire to the ground beneath the feet of Turkish soldiers”.

Al-Kash said that he has asked Prime Minister Haidar al Abadi to revoke all agreements with Turkey for what he called their incursion into Iraqi territory.

Turkish troops deployed in Iraq began to leave a camp near Iraq’s city of Mosul on Monday, the media reported.