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 Turkey sent hundreds of forces to a camp in the Bashiqa region of
northern Iraq on Thursday. It described it as a routine rotation in
an existing training program to help Iraqis retake Mosul from
Islamic State, and said the troops were there to ensure the safety
of the Turkish military trainers.
But the Iraqi government said the latest deployment had been made
without informing or coordinating with Baghdad, and should be
withdrawn. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Sunday that Iraq
might turn to the U.N. Security Council if the troops were not
withdrawn within 48 hours, describing their deployment as a
violation of national sovereignty.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, however, said Abadi had
repeatedly requested more active Turkish support against Islamic
State, and said he believed other countries had played a role in
Iraq's reaction. He did not elaborate.
"It is our duty to provide security for our soldiers providing
training there," Cavusoglu said in an interview on Turkey's Kanal 24
television.
"Everybody is present in Iraq ... The goal of all of them is clear.
Train-and-equip advisory support is being provided. Our presence
there is not a secret," he added.
 Turkey, embroiled in a row with Moscow after it shot down a Russian
warplane near the Syrian border almost two weeks ago, is eager to
show it is playing its part in the fight against Islamic State. It
has come under pressure from the United States to play a more active
role, particularly in Syria.
Moscow has accused Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and his family
of benefiting from the illegal smuggling of oil from Islamic
State-held territory in Syria and Iraq, a charge Ankara vehemently
denies.
Islamic State militants overran Iraq's second-largest city Mosul,
home to more than 1 million people, in June 2014. An expected
counter-offensive by Iraqi forces has been repeatedly postponed
because they are involved in fighting elsewhere.
TANKS AND ARMORED VEHICLES
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Sunday the new
deployment was a troop rotation to support a camp that Turkish
forces had previously set up at the Mosul governor's request and in
coordination with the Iraqi Defense Ministry.
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Iraqi Kurdish regional President Massoud Barzani would visit Turkey
this week, Cavusoglu said, adding that Iraq's defense minister was
also expected to visit the country soon in a previously-arranged
trip.
Kurdistan Regional Government spokesman Safeen Dizayee denied a
Turkish media report that a deal had been reached between Turkey and
Iraq for Turkey to have a permanent military base in Nineveh
province, of which Mosul is the capital.
He backed up Ankara's version of events, saying Thursday's
deployment aimed "to expand the capacity" of the training base near
Bashiqa and included armored personnel carriers and tanks. "The
increase of personnel requires some protection," he said.
A senior Kurdish military official based on the Bashiqa front line,
north of Mosul, said last week that additional Turkish trainers had
arrived at a camp in the area on Thursday, escorted by a Turkish
protection force.
The camp is used by a force called Hashid Watani (national
mobilization), which is made up of mainly Sunni Arab former Iraqi
police and volunteers from Mosul.
It was formed by former Nineveh governor Atheel al-Nujaifi, who had
close relations with Turkey. There was already a small number of
Turkish trainers there before this latest deployment.
(Additional reporting by Orhan Coskun and Tulay Karadeniz in Ankara;
Writing by Nick Tattersall; Editing by Pravin Char)
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