Is Iraq and Turkey heading into a military confrontation ?

Is Iraq and Turkey heading into a military confrontation  ?
2015-12-09T08:14:11+00:00

between Russian President , Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey is now facing a diplomatic crisis with its neighbor Iraq.

The new crisis completed the collar crises that surround it, and with it the regional transformation reached anti-policies neighbor, if not hostile.

Iran entered on the line of tension between Russia and Turkey as Moscow and Baghdad joined and accused Turkey of buying oil from the "Islamic state", a charge repeated more than once by a Russian official and reached accusing Erdogan's family of being involved in this trade.

But the crisis with Iraq took another turn as the Iraqi government has said it will go to the Security Council if Turkey did not withdraw its troops, which were stationed a few days ago at a base in Bashiqa town near Mosul in northern Iraq.

The presidency of the Iraqi government said in a statement after a meeting of the Ministerial Council for National Security chaired by Abadi on Sunday evening, December 6th that The Council discussed the «Turkish blatant military intervention ... as Iraq renewed its rejection to the entry of Turkish troops that happened without the consent or knowledge of the Iraqi government's position and considered it a violation of sovereignty and a violation for the principles of good neighborliness.

The Iraqi Prime Minister , Haider al-Abadi gave Turkey 48 hours to withdraw its troops from his country, threatened to resort to the Security Council.

The leader of Badr Organization, which constitute one of the main components of "Popular Mobilization Units" (PMU) backed by Iran, Hadi al-Amiri entered the crisis line between Baghdad and Ankara as he described the Turkish troops stationed in Iraq as the power of "occupation and it will become a target for the PMU," he said in a speech Monday, December 7 that "we support the government's refusal for the presence of any foreign land forces, as we will resist it and consider it as an occupation... as a personal goal," he vowed Turkey by saying: you are not stronger than the Americans and we will destroy your tanks on your heads.

Despite the Turkish government's efforts to calm Iraqi concerns and hold high-level contacts at the level of Prime Ministers of the two countries, but that the Iraqi position has not changed.

Turkey said that the troops that have been deployed in Mosul province was a part of training the Kurdish Peshmerga forces and the forces of "national mobilization" which is overseen by the former governor of Mosul, Athel al-Nujaifi.

Turkish Foreign Minister , Davutoglu Mawlood Jawesh explained that the Iraqi government has repeatedly asked Turkey to provide more effective support in fighting the "Islamic state", adding that the current Iraqi situation of the deployment of Turkish troops now came under the influence of other countries, in reference to Iran.

Oglu said that «Turkey strongly differs with Iran's policy in Syria and Iraq, because the sectarian politics of Iran are dangerous for the region, but there is no crisis between the two countries»

He stressed that Turkey has always supported Iran and wants to maintain good relations with them, but he called on Tehran to distance itself from the «allegations and fabrications», referring to Iran's accession to Moscow in accusing Ankara to buy oil from ISIS.

The Turkish Prime Minister ,Ahmet Davutoglu said that the current Turkish military action is a routine rotation to support the camp already established by the Turkish troops at the request of the governor of Mosul and in coordination with the Iraqi defense forces. But Iraqi Defense Minister , Khaled al-Obeidi told his Turkish counterpart that the forces that have been deployed recently without notice or coordination with Baghdad and should be withdrawn.

Reports indicated that about 600 soldiers of the Turkish Special Forces troops have been deployed in the military base which is located 100 km from the border between Iraq and Turkey in order to ensure the protection of Turkish military trainers according to statements by Turkish officials.

Hurriyat Turkish newspaper quoted Turkish government sources that Turkey halted the deployment of an additional 350 Turkish troops in Iraq were about to enter Iraq till reaching an understanding with the Iraqi side.

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