The arrival of a heavily armed Turkish contingent near the frontline close to Mosul has added yet another controversial deployment to a war against Daesh (ISIL) that has drawn in most of the world’s major powers.
“NATO must use its authority to urge Turkey to withdraw immediately from Iraqi territory,” Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said in a statement on Tuesday, posted after a 48-hour deadline set by Baghdad for a withdrawal of the troops expired.
Abadi spoke with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg by telephone, the statement added, calling the deployment a violation of Iraq’s sovereignty.
Russia, already furious with Ankara after the Turkish air force shot down one of its jets flying over Syria last month, said it considered the force presence in Iraq illegal.
Ankara claims its troops are in Iraq to train Iraqi forces. “Training at this camp began with the knowledge of the Iraqi Defense Ministry and police,” Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told a meeting of deputies from his ruling AK Party.
The Foreign Ministry said Turkey had stopped the deployment two days ago due to the “sensitivities” of Iraqi authorities.
In a phone conversation with his Iraqi counterpart late Monday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu emphasized Ankara’s respect for Iraq’s territorial integrity, spokesman Tanju Bilgic told reporters.
“He [Cavusoglu] said that our activities aimed to contribute to the struggle against Daesh in Iraq and reiterated that the deployment had stopped,” Bilgic said. “There is no withdrawal at the moment, but the deployment has stopped.”
Davutoglu said he wanted to visit Baghdad soon to calm the row, saying the troops were intended to protect the training mission against attack by Daesh.
“Those who make different interpretations of the Turkish military presence in Mosul are involved in deliberate provocation,” Davutoglu told the deputies, Reuters reported.
He made clear the sharp deterioration in ties with Russia also remained high on the agenda.
“We are ready for talks and every kind of exchange of ideas with Russia but will never allow anything to be dictated to us,” he said. “In the face of Russia’s sanctions, we will implement our own sanctions if we regard it necessary.”
Russia has imposed a raft of economic sanctions on Turkey since its fighter jet was shot down near the Syrian-Turkish border last month in disputed circumstances. Davutoglu has vowed steps to support Turkey’s exporters and tourism sector.
Russia’s increasing involvement in the Syrian conflict has put it at odds with Turkey, which has strongly supported terrorists fighting Syrian President Bashar Assad.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday that this support would continue, reiterating a demand for the creation of “safe zones” in northern Syria to protect displaced civilians and stop the flow of refugees.