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Baghdad showing Back bone ‘Incursion’: Baghdad demands Turkey withdraw ‘training’ troops from northern Iraq

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REUTERS/Sertac Kayar - RTX1R28Z

REUTERS/Sertac Kayar – RTX1R28Z

The Iraqi government has demanded that Ankara withdraw the more than 100 Turkish forces that entered Iraq with tanks and artillery for alleged “training” of troops near Islamic State-occupied Mosul. Baghdad stressed the unsanctioned move was a breach of its sovereignty.

READ MORE: Kurds & US Special Forces should be used to seal Turkish-Syrian border – Russian FM

The Iraqi foreign ministry said in a statement early on Saturday that the Turkish troops were acting in violation of the country’s sovereignty and demanded the forces withdraw immediately. “Around one regiment armoured with tanks and artillery” has entered the northern Nineveh area, according to the statement from the Iraqi Prime Minister’s media office.

However, according to two US defense officials quoted by Reuters, Turkey’s deployment is not part of the efforts of the US-led coalition battling Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL).

On Friday, 130 Turkish soldiers equipped with heavy weapons were deployed at a military base on the outskirts of the city of Mosul, which is currently held by IS, according to the Daily Sabah newspaper.

READ MORE: Turkey skeptical about US proposal to close border ‘under ISIS control’

According to Cumhuriyet newspaper, the number of the deployed Turkish troops amounts to at least 150.

The town of Bashiqa is located about 10 kilometers northeast of Mosul.

Mosul, Iraq’s second biggest city, was seized by Islamic State in June 2014 and has been fully governed by militants ever since. Moreover, the extremist group captured large stockpiles of weapons and ammunition that were stored in the city.

“In the collapse of Mosul, we lost a lot of weapons,” Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said in an interview with Iraqiya state TV in June. “We lost 2,300 Humvees in Mosul alone,” he added.

The Turkish intrusion into Iraq comes shortly after Ankara’s motives in the war on Islamic State have been questioned by Moscow, Tehran, as well as by Baghdad.

The Russian government has been particularly vocal in pointing the finger at the illegal oil trade between IS terrorists and the Turks. Moscow-Ankara relations deteriorated after a Turkish F-16 jet downed a Russian Su-24 bomber on the Syrian-Turkish border for an alleged airspace violation on November 24, while the Russian jet was returning from an anti-terrorist mission. In the days after, the Russian Defense Ministry presented detailed photo and video evidence showing three huge “live pipelines” made of oil trucks effortlessly crossing the Syrian border into Turkey in militant-controlled areas.

U.S. To Use Romania Base For Afghan Withdrawal

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By RFE/RL

October 19, 2013

The United States has secured an agreement with NATO ally Romania to use a Black Sea air base as a transit point for American troops and military equipment leaving C2290D4F-3BFF-4F64-847E-F535933192D9_w640_r1_sAfghanistan.

Under the deal, the United States will shift its flight operations to Romania’s Mihail Kogalniceanu air base from the Manas Transit Center in Kyrgyzstan.

The U.S. contract for using Manas expires in July, 2014.

The United States and its allies are preparing to pull out most combat forces and military equipment from Afghanistan by the end of next year.

The deal was announced as U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel held talks October 18 in Washington with Romanian Defense Minister Mircea Dusa.

A Pentagon statement said the two sides “finalized an agreement for Romania to support logistics into and out of Afghanistan, including both personnel and cargo movement.”

Further details about the terms of the agreement with Romania were not made publicly available.

The United States currently has more than 50,000 troops in Afghanistan, and will need to transfer huge quantities of vehicles and weapons out of the country over the next year to meet the deadline of withdrawing combat forces by the end of 2014.

The United States has been paying tens of millions of dollars annually to use the Manas base in Kyrgyzstan.

Kyrgyzstan, which ruled out extending U.S. use of the base past mid-2014, rents a second base on its territory, Kant, to Russia.

In a statement, the Pentagon said the United States “appreciates the support provided by the Kyrgyz people to U.S. forces and coalition efforts to counter the threat of terrorism and to achieve security and stability in Afghanistan and the region.”

It said Washington “respects the decision” of the Kyrgyz government to end renting the base to the United States after more than 12 years.

The statement added that the United States “intends to continue supporting Kyrgyzstan’s democratic and economic development,” and looks forward to “further developing our bilateral relationship in the years ahead.”

Concerning ties with Romania, the Pentagon said the United States has also thanked Romania for agreeing to host the land-based U.S. Aegis Ashore missile defense system.

This is part of a Europe-based anti-missile system aimed at guarding against potential missile launches by Iran or another actor.

A groundbreaking ceremony for construction of the Aegis site, which will include radar and missiles, is due to be held at Deveselu in Romania later this month.

The U.S. statement also welcomed Romania’s decision to purchase 12 used U.S. F-16 fighter jets from Portugal, saying “this significant investment in air superiority capabilities will open the door for greater regional collaboration and will be valuable to future NATO and coalition operations.”