Iraq officially approaches UN Security Council for Turkish Forces deployment in Iraqi territory
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BAGHDAD: Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi instructed his foreign ministry to lodge a formal complaint at the U.N. Security Council over the continued presence of Turkish forces, asking it to order Turkey to withdraw its troops from Iraq immediately. President Tayyip Erdogan declared on Friday he would not bow to Iraqi demands to withdraw Turkish troops from a camp close to the ISIS-held city of Mosul. A row over the deployment has soured relations between Ankara and Baghdad, which denies having agreed to it. Ankara says the troops were sent as part of an international mission to train and equip Iraqi forces to fight ISIS. The latest comments indicated continuing tensions despite the Turkish prime minister’s office saying agreement was reached in talks with Iraq to deepen security cooperation and “reorganize” military personnel at the Bashiqa camp. “There is no way we can withdraw our soldiers from northern Iraq now,” Erdogan told a news conference. “There was a deployment, not for combat, but to protect soldiers providing training there.” “We will continue the training process decisively,” he said.(English.Arabia)
