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 A Turkish security source said on Friday the forces would provide
training for Iraqi troops near Mosul, which is controlled by Islamic
State.
Iraq's prime minister and foreign ministry have called for Turkey to
withdraw its forces.
In an online statement, Massoum also called on Turkey to withdraw
the troops and asked Iraq's Foreign Ministry to take the necessary
measures "to preserve the country's sovereignty and independence".
Islamic State militants overran Mosul in June 2014. A much
anticipated counter-offensive by Iraqi forces has been repeatedly
postponed because they are tied down in fighting elsewhere.
 A senior Kurdish military officer based north of Mosul told Reuters
that additional Turkish trainers had arrived at a camp in the area
overnight on Thursday escorted by a Turkish protection force.
A small number of Turkish trainers was already at the camp to train
a force called Hashid Watani (national mobilization), which is made
up of mainly Sunni Arab former Iraqi police and volunteers from
Mosul.
The United States was aware of Turkey's deployment of hundreds of
Turkish soldiers to northern Iraq but the move is not part of the
U.S.-led coalition's activities, according to defense officials in
Washington.
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Powerful Iraqi Shi'ite Muslim armed groups have pledged to fight a
planned deployment of U.S. forces to the country. Turkey has in
recent months been bombing Kurdish militant positions in northern
Iraq.
(Reporting by Ahmed Rasheed; Writing by Stephen Kalin; Editing by
Raissa Kasolowsky)
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