Iraq accuses Turkish troops inside Iraqi territory of violating int'l law

The Iraqi President Fuad Masoum said on Saturday that the presence of Turkish troops inside Iraq is a "violation" to the norms and international law, calling on Turkey to withdraw its troops.

Masoum said in a statement that "a force from neighboring Turkey advanced deep inside the Iraqi territory in a violation for the norms and international law and to the Iraqi sovereignty."

Masoum called on Turkish authorities to "withdraw its forces from Iraqi territory and to prevent recurrence of such an incident, which harms the relations between the two neighboring countries," according to the statement.

Earlier in the day, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said that the presence of Turkish troops is a "serious breach of Iraqi sovereignty," and demanded withdrawal of the Turkish troops which deployed near the IS-held city of Mosul, some 400 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad.

"A battalion of tanks and artillery entered the Iraqi territory, specifically in Nineveh province under the pretext of training Iraqi groups without the request or authorization from the Iraqi federal authorities," Abadi said.

"This is a serious breach of Iraqi sovereignty, which is not consistent with the good neighborly relations between Iraq and Turkey," Abadi said.

The two statements came after some reports said a Turkish training battalion equipped with armored vehicles deployed near the city of Mosul, which is under control of Islamic State (IS) militant group.

The Turkish troops were supposed to provide training to Iraqi paramilitary groups at a camp near Mosul in order to participate in liberating the city from the extremist IS militants.

Mosul, the capital of Nineveh province, has been under IS control since June 11, 2014, when bloody clashes broke out between Iraqi security forces and IS, which then captured Mosul and large parts of the province and later seized swathes of territories in other predominantly Sunni provinces. Endit