Iraqi president says Turkish deployment violates international law

The Turkish presence near Mosul reflects the current battle map in the region and the Kurds are playing a major role. They have also received first-aid training.

“A battalion of tanks and artillery entered the Iraqi territory, specifically in Nineveh province under the pretext of training Iraqi groups without the request or authorization from the Iraqi federal authorities”, he said.

Cavusoglu made the remarks in a phone call to Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari on December 8, just hours after Baghdad’s deadline for a Turkish withdrawal expired.

But Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the troop rotation was routine and the camp had originally been set up in coordination with Iraqi authorities. It called on the forces to leave immediately.

He said the Turkish defence minister had explained the deployment as necessary to protect military advisers training Iraqi forces some 30 km (19 miles) northeast of Mosul in preparation for a campaign to retake the city.

According to the KRG, the fresh deployments of Turkish military equipment and experts were meant to replace a unit already deployed in northern Iraq. A battalion of soldiers has gone there.

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations on Tuesday urged political dialogue between Turkey and Iraq to defuse a row over the presence of Turkish troops in northern Iraq. Shiite groups also expressed fury after US officials announced last week that more troops would be sent to Iraq.

A statement from his office said ” (Abadi) stressed on the importance to stop oil smuggling of IS terrorist gangs, of which its majority is smuggled through Turkey”, Xinhua reported.

Islamic State occupies swathes of Iraq and Syria, profiting from disunity among groups opposing it.

In a statement, Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi said “This is considered as a grave violation to Iraq’s sovereignty and does not respect good neighborly relations between Iraq and Turkey”.

Abadi reiterated that foreign ground combat troops were not needed in Iraq.

The Iraqi premier is facing pressure from Shi’ite militias angry over foreign troop deployments in the country.