Treating Turkey as enemy does not benefit Iraq: Oil Min.
Date
12/15/2015 7:24:40 AM
(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) Iraq's Oil Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi said Sunday that treatingTurkey like an enemydue to its military presence in northern Iraqwill not benefit his country.
On Dec. 4 approximately 150 Turkish soldiers and about 25 tanks were sent toa camp near the town of Bashiqa -located northeast of MosulinIraq’s northern Nineveh province -toprovide training toIraqi volunteers as part of the fight against the Daesh militant group. The deploymentled to the current tension between Ankara and Baghdad with the latter asserting that Turkey violatedIraqi sovereignty. Last week Baghdaddemanded that Ankara withdraw the recently-deployed troops. "Due to its presence in Mosul treating Turkey like an enemy state suspending political and trade relations is not right. Thiswill not help Iraq defend its sovereignty" Mahdi said. Since March Turkey has been operating a training program in the camp.Turkishtroops currently deployed in the camp have not been assigned combat duties. Defining Iraqi government's steps towards Turkey as "stable"he described Turkey's military involvementin northern Iraq as "complicated." "We have to handle this situation with great care and solve the issues without deepening them. We shouldn'tshift the direction of Iraq away from the ongoing fighting against Daesh" Mahdi added. A Turkish military source said Monday that some of the Turkish troops and an unspecified number of tanks that weredeployed at theBashiqacamp have been withdrawn to another part of northern Iraq.
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.