Iraqi Defense Minister Khaled al-Obeidi (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)
Iraq‘s defense minister said on Sunday he had told his Turkish counterpart that hundreds of Turkish forces deployed inside Iraq near the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)-held city of Mosul had been sent without informing or coordinating with Baghdad, and should be withdrawn.
Khaled al-Obeidi said in a statement the Turkish defense minister had explained the deployment as necessary to protect Turkish military advisers training Iraqi forces in preparation for a campaign to retake Mosul.
But Obeidi said the Turkish force was too large for such a purpose.
“No matter the size of the force entering Iraq, it is rejected,” the statement said. “It was possible to undertake this sort of prior coordination without creating circumstances which contributed to a crisis between the two countries.”
Iraq’s president, prime minister and foreign ministry have all objected to the Turkish deployment in recent days, calling it a hostile act and a violation of international law. Baghdad also summoned the Turkish ambassador to issue a formal protest.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said on Saturday that it was a routine troop rotation and that Turkish forces had set up a camp some 30 kilometers (19 miles) northeast of Mosul at the Mosul governor’s request, and in coordination with the Iraqi Defense Ministry.
A small number of Turkish trainers were already at the camp before the latest deployment to train the Hashid Watani (national mobilization), a force made up of mainly Sunni Arab former Iraqi police and volunteers from Mosul, which ISIL militants seized in June 2014.