Abadi Wants Turkish Troops out of Northern Iraq

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has renewed the call for the withdrawal of Turkish soldiers from his country, warning that Ankara’s military adventurism could trigger another war in the Middle East region.

Speaking at a press conference in the capital Baghdad on Tuesday evening, Abadi expressed serious concern over the deployment of Turkish soldiers to Iraqi soil, according to Press TV.

 “We do not want to enter into a military confrontation with Turkey,” the Iraqi prime minister said, arguing that “the behavior of the Turkish leadership is not acceptable by any standard.”

 He said every world leader he has met supports the Baghdad government’s position in this regard.

“The Turkish insistence on [its] presence inside Iraqi territories has no justification.

He further described the liberation of Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city and the main “Daesh” stronghold in the country, as imminent, stressing that Baghdad has drawn up plans to “ensure Turkish troops will not exploit the power vacuum after victory over Daesh in Mosul.”

Abadi’s remarks came on the same day that Iraqi parliament rejected the Turkish legislature’s October 1 decision to extend the mandate of Turkish forces in northern Iraq for one more year.

 “We reject the decision of the Turkish parliament which permits incursion of Turkish troops into Iraqi territories. The Iraqi government must consider Turkish troops as hostile occupying forces,” the Iraqi parliament said in a statement.

The parliament further urged the Baghdad government to take all legal and diplomatic measures to safeguard Iraq’s sovereignty, and review trade and economic ties with Ankara.

The Iraqi lawmakers also condemned Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s recent comments that Ankara is willing to join the upcoming offensive to liberate Mosul.

“The Iraqi Council of Representatives (Parliament) rejects and condemns Erdogan’s statements, and we find such remarks as divisive for the Iraqi people,” the parliament said.

In another development on Wednesday, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry summoned Turkish Ambassador to Baghdad Faruk Kaymakci over the Turkish parliament’s extension by another year a mandate allowing cross-border military incursions into Iraq, and Ankara’s demand to play a role in the Mosul battle.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry also summoned Iraq’s Ambassador to Ankara Hisham Ali Akbar Ibrahim Alawi in a tit-for-tat move, voicing Ankara’s protest over the Iraqi parliament’s rejection of a one-year extension of the mandate for Turkish forces in Iraq.

H.M