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Iraq says no Turkish troops participated in Mosul battle

Xinhua, October 24, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Iraqi Joint Operations Command (JOC) said on Monday that no Turkish troops participated in the battles against Islamic State (IS) militants in Mosul.

"The Iraqi Joint Operations Command denies the participation of Turkish troops in any form in the battle to liberate Mosul," the JOC spokesperson, Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasoul, said in a statement.

The JOC statement came in response to comments by Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim on Sunday that Turkish artillery provided shelling for Kurdish Peshmerga forces near Bashiqa, where Kurds were fighting the IS group in northern Iraq.

"The Peshmerga have mobilized to cleanse the Bashiqa region of Daesh (IS)," Yildirim said. "They asked for help from our soldiers at the Bashiqa base, so we are helping the tanks with our artillery and howitzers there."

On Saturday, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said there had been no agreement with Turkey about its troops' participation in the battle to free Mosul from IS.

"The reports which said there was an agreement between Iraq and Turkey are not true," Abadi said in a statement issued after his meeting in Baghdad with U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter.

"A Turkish delegation had arrived in Baghdad on Sunday (Oct. 16) and held meetings, but its suggestions were not enough for Iraq," Abadi said.

"We tell everyone that the battle of Mosul will be carried out only by Iraqis and we will not allow any force to intervene," Abadi said.

Carter said that all countries assisting Iraq should respect its sovereignty and not offer any help without Iraq's permission, according to the statement.

Abadi's comment was seen as an apparent rejection of efforts by Carter to heal the rift between Baghdad and Ankara.

On Friday, Carter signaled the possibility of a conditional Turkish role in the battles to free Mosul and said there was an agreement in principle that could allow Turkish participation, but he acknowledged that Iraq would need to agree.

On Oct. 17, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who is also the commander-in-chief of Iraqi armed forces, announced the start of a major offensive to retake Mosul, the country's second largest city.

Mosul, some 400 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, has been under IS control since June 2014, when Iraqi government forces abandoned their weapons and fled. Endit