Iraq demands Turkish troops withdrawal

The Iraqi government has demanded that Turkey withdraw troops it sent to an area near the northern city of Mosul.

The move was a “serious breach of Iraqi sovereignty” Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s office said in a statement.

Turkey says it has deployed 150 soldiers in the town of Bashiqa to train Iraqi Kurdish forces fighting the Islamic State (IS) group, and it does intend to launch a ground offensive.

Mosul has been under the control of IS militants since last year.

The statement called on Turkey to “respect good neighbourly relations and to withdraw immediately from the Iraqi territory”.

In a response on Sunday, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the Bashiqa camp was a “training facility established to support local volunteer forces’ fight against terrorism”, AFP news agency reports.

The report did not mention any plans to bring the Turkish troops home.

Turkey enjoys close relations with autonomous Kurdish regions in Iraq, although it views Syrian Kurdish groups over the border as hostile, analysts say.

The fall of Mosul was a key moment in the rise of IS and a Iraqi government offensive to retake the city has been repeatedly put back.

This week saw the UK carry out its first air strikes against IS in Syria and Germany voting to send military support to the coalition fighting IS in the country. BBC