Sparks Fly between Turkey, Iraq As Battle Looms to Oust Daesh from Mosul

Local Editor

The leaders of Turkey and Iraq exchanged sharp words as preparation ends for a military operation to oust Daesh [Arabic Acronym for the terrorist "ISIS"/ "ISIL" group] militants from the terror group's last major redoubt in Iraq.

The latest salvo came from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in response to a demand from Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi that Turkey withdraw its troops from Iraq, where they've been training a multi-ethnic force to participate in the looming battle.

"You are not my interlocutor. You are not at my level. You are not my equivalent. You are not of the same quality as me," Erdogan said, referring to al-Abadi in a speech to Muslim religious leaders from the Balkans and Central Asia. "Your screaming and shouting in Iraq is of no importance to us. You should know that we will go our own way," Erdogan said.

The disagreement is about 2,000 Turkish troops based at a camp named Bashiqa in northern Iraq.

Turkey's parliament two weeks ago voted to extend its troop deployment in Iraq to combat "terrorist organizations," according to Reuters.

Iraq's government wants its forces to lead the offensive and condemned the vote.

"We have asked the Turkish side more than once not to intervene in Iraqi matters and I fear the Turkish adventure could turn into a regional war," al-Abadi warned on Oct. 5 in comments broadcast on state TV. "The Turkish leadership's behavior is not acceptable and we don't want to get into a military confrontation with Turkey."

The US State Department on Tuesday urged Turkey to respect Iraq's wishes.

"All of Iraq's neighbors need to respect Iraq's sovereignty and territorial integrity," State Department spokesman John Kirby said. "We call on both governments to focus on their common enemy, our common enemy, which is Daesh," Kirby said.

"The campaign to retake Mosul is an Iraqi operation," Kirby said.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team