The Iraqi Government has called on Turkey to immediately withdraw its forces from northern Iraq, calling Ankara’s move “an incursion”.
Turkish forces entered Iraq with tanks and artillery to allegedly “train” Iraqi troops near ISIS occupied Mosul.
Baghdad said that the entry of a battalion of Turkish troops is a violation of its sovereignty.
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The unauthorized presence of Turkish troops in Mosul province is a serious breach of Iraqi sovereignty https://t.co/s051sa8ls6
— Haider Al-Abadi (@HaiderAlAbadi) December 4, 2015
Press TV reports:
On Friday, Reuters cited a Turkish security source as saying that several hundred Turkish forces had been dispatched to a military base on the outskirts of the city of Mosul, the capital of Nineveh province, to provide training for Iraqi soldiers.
“Turkish soldiers have reached the Mosul Bashiqa region. They are there as part of routine training exercises. One battalion has crossed into the region,” the source said.
He also noted that the troops had already been in the Iraqi Kurdistan and had moved to Mosul accompanied by armored vehicles, in a move known by the countries who are members of the so-called US-led coalition purportedly fighting Daesh.
A video footage released on the website of Turkey’s Yeni Safak newspaper showed flatbed trucks carrying armored vehicles along a road at night, calling them a convoy accompanying the Turkish soldiers to Bashiqa.
Niamh Harris