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Turkish troops to stay on inside Iraq: PM

Xinhua, October 6, 2016 Adjust font size:

Turkey's military presence in Iraq's Bashiqa camp will continue to ensure that demographics of the region is not altered, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Thursday.

He described Iraq's objection to Turkey's extension of the troops' mandate at the camp north of Mosul as "incomprehensible."

Yildirim said Turkish troops will stay on in Iraq to continue the fight against the Islamic State (IS) group.

Iraq on Thursday requested that the United Nations Security Council convene an emergency session to discuss the presence of Turkish troops on Iraqi territories near Mosul.

Iraq's permanent representative to the UN has delivered "a formal request to the current president of the Security Council, Vitaly Churkin, demanding that the council convene an emergency session to discuss the incursion and interference of the Turkey side," the Iraqi foreign ministry said in a statement.

Yildirim, the Turkish prime minister, said that at a time when there are troops from 63 countries in Iraq to fight against terror, concern over the Turkish presence there was "absurd" and had "nothing to do with good intentions."

He said the Iraqi government is exceeding its limits by speaking ill of Turkey, which has always existed in the region, while turning a blind eye to all other countries which have no relevance in the region.

On Tuesday, the Iraqi parliament rejected Turkey's continued military presence in Bashiqa. Endit