New developments, this doesn't seem pretty routine.
‘Incursion’: Baghdad demands Turkey withdraw ‘training’ troops from northern Iraq — RT News
The Iraqi government has demanded that Ankara withdraw the more than 100 Turkish forces that entered Iraq with tanks and artillery for alleged “training” of troops near Islamic State-occupied Mosul. Baghdad stressed the unsanctioned move was a breach of its sovereignty.
The Iraqi foreign ministry said in a statement early on Saturday that the Turkish troops were acting in violation of the country’s sovereignty and demanded the forces withdraw immediately.
“Around one regiment armoured with tanks and artillery” has entered the northern Nineveh area, according to the statement from the Iraqi Prime Minister’s media office.
“The Iraqi authorities call on Turkey to respect good neighbourly relations and to withdraw immediately from the Iraqi territory,” the statement said, stressing that the Turkish troops entered “without the request or authorization from the Iraqi federal authorities,” which is a “serious breach of Iraqi sovereignty.”
The foreign ministry called Turkey’s move
“an incursion,” Reuters reported.
According to the agency’s source, the US-led anti-Islamic State coalition was aware of the Turkey's move.
“
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 told Reuters without revealing the exact number of troops.
He added that the Turkish forces are
“training Iraqi troops.”
However, according to two US defense officials quoted by Reuters, Turkey’s deployment is not part of the efforts of the US-led coalition battling Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL).
On Friday, 130 Turkish soldiers equipped with heavy weapons were deployed at a military base on the outskirts of the city of Mosul, which is currently held by IS, according to the Daily Sabah newspaper.
According to Cumhuriyet newspaper, the number of the deployed Turkish troops amounts to at least 150.
The town of Bashiqa is located about 10 kilometers northeast of Mosul.
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Mosul, Iraq’s second biggest city, was seized by Islamic State in June 2014 and has been fully governed by militants ever since. Moreover, the extremist group captured large stockpiles of weapons and ammunition that were stored in the city.
“
In the collapse of Mosul, we lost a lot of weapons,” Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said in an interview with Iraqiya state TV in June. “
We lost 2,300 Humvees in Mosul alone,” he added.
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Iraq demands withdrawal of Turkish forces near Mosul - Breaking News - Jerusalem Post
Iraq demands withdrawal of Turkish forces near Mosul
Iraq said on Saturday the entry of "around one armed battalion" of Turkish troops to the northern Nineveh area was a violation of its sovereignty and called on the forces to withdraw immediately, according to the prime minister's media office.
The foreign ministry in a statement flashed on state television described the Turkish activity is "an incursion" and rejected any military operation that was not coordinated with the federal government in Baghdad.
A Turkish security source said on Friday that several hundred Turkish troops had been deployed to provide training for Iraqi troops near Mosul, a city of more than one million people which Islamic State militants overran in July 2014.
