Russia Lashes Out at Turkey Over Troops in Iraq

In a phone conversation with his Iraqi counterpart late on Monday, Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu emphasised Ankara’s respect for Iraq’s territorial integrity, spokesperson Tanju Bilgic told reporters.

Though officially the expansion was related to concerns about threats from ISIS, they also cited “declarations encouraging violence” against Turkish companies among Iraqi Shi’ite groups in recent weeks.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told parliament: “As (the local Kurdish leader) Mr. Barzani said, these Peshmerga trained by Turkish soldiers contributed to the recapturing of Sinjar”.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has said the solution of Iraqi-Turkey “crisis” over the deployment of Turkish troops near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul could only be solved only by a “full withdrawal of Turkish troops from Iraqi territory”.

KRG President Masoud Barzani has arrived in Ankara and met with various officials, including Turkish intelligence chief Hakan Fidan and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Iran-backed Shiite militias have been recruiting fighters online to fight the Islamic State group in Iraq.

Russian Federation requested a closed-door discussion in the U.N. Security Council about Ankara’s deployment of soldiers and tanks in Iraqi territory.

Churkin said that if Turkey’s actions were taken in the interest of fighting the Islamic State extremists and in the interest of Iraq, “why not ask for permission of the government of Iraq?”

Turkey has been waging a relentless offensive against PKK strongholds in the southeast of the country and in northern Iraq following the collapse in July of a two-year truce with rebels.

Karim al-Nuri, spokesman for the Badr Brigade, an Iraqi Shiite political party, likened the Turkish incursion to the occupation of Iraq by ISIL militants and said “all options” were available.

Turkish jets have frequently bombed PKK sites in northern Iraq. Their presence, while not publicly advertised, appears to have been done in coordination with both Baghdad and the semi-autonomous Kurdish regional government in Iraq’s north.

“Our belief is that just as we operate in close cooperation and with the consent of the Iraqi government, all countries should do that”.

“Those who make different interpretations of the Turkish military presence in Mosul are involved in deliberate provocation”, he told the deputies.