ERBIL, Iraq
Turkey has a big role to play in the upcoming battle to free Iraq’s second largest city Mosul, Iraq’s embattled governor of Mosul told the Anadolu Agency in an exclusive interview Thursday.
When Mosul was overrun by the terrorist organization Daesh on June 10, 2014, its Governor Atheel al-Nujaifi was forced to flee the area and these days he operates from his temporary office in the capital of Iraq’s semiautonomous Kurdish regional government, Erbil.
In the interview, al-Nujaifi gave details about the preparation for the military operation planned to free Mosul. “Turkey and the international coalition have started to work together. The volunteer forces are being trained today by Turkish officers; and Turkey is providing help and logistical support in preparation for the military camp for the Sunni forces,” he said.
However, he highlighted the fact that much of the burden of military planning was on the shoulders of the Iraqi army. Moreover, the trained forces and the Kurdish Peshmerga were expected to participate in the military operation alongside Iraqi security forces under the cover of air support provided by the U.S.-led international coalition.
He added that Turkey would have a role in providing humanitarian aid during the displacement waves expected to take place in Mosul during the military campaign.
Al-Nujaifi also said that Turkey’s role was expected to be enhanced later on when Iraq became stable. “We are absolutely bound to the sovereignty of Iraq. The role of Turkey and Iran should be balanced for Iraq’s stability,” he added.
Although the Mosul governor did not specify an exact date for the beginning of the operation to free Mosul from Daesh, al-Nujaifi recalled Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi’s visit to Washington during which the premier said it would start soon.
He said that the recent military operation in Iraq’s Tikrit and the ongoing operation in Anbar province had huge consequences for the Mosul operation. “The Anbar’s military operation will keep Daesh away from Baghdad. That will determine the launching date of Mosul’s operation,” he said.
Avoiding civilian casualties
When asked how during the operation in Mosul civilians would be distinguished from Daesh militants, the governor said that the armed forces members hailing from Mosul would know who was from Daesh and who was not. He said that he believed that forces from Mosul itself should lead the military operation to avoid the mistake of equating civilians with Daesh members.
But are the people of Mosul with Daesh or the Iraqi government? “We are sure that all the people of Mosul are against Daesh,” the governor said.
He added that there were thousands of Iraqi soldiers who hail from Mosul and said there should be no doubt civilians there would welcome Iraqi armed forces when the operation was launched to free them from Daesh.
Arms shortage?
The governor spoke also about the supposed shortage of arms for his “volunteer fighters.”
“We do not have enough weapons for all volunteer fighters, but we are arming them gradually,” he said.
He said that according to international agreements, all weapons must first be delivered to Baghdad’s Defense Ministry and only then they could reach to other groups, such as the volunteers willing to fight in Mosul. “We cannot take weapons directly from anybody,” he said.
‘Iraqi army not weak’
He dispelled the notion spread by some international media outlets that the Iraqi army was extremely weak and unsuccessful. “The Iraqi army is disciplined, trained and does its job as any other well-equipped army,” the governor said.
He also thought it was unfair to compare the regular Iraqi army with the Shia militia, al-Hashid al-Shaabi, which he said was not as disciplined or trained. “Although all the load of Tirkit’s operation was put on the shoulders of the Iraqi army, the al-Hashid al-Shaabi was depicted as on top of the operation,” he said.
He also called for arming the Iraqi army at par with the Shia militia.
About the participation of al-Hashid al-Shaabi in the Mosul operation, the governor said that if it was up to him only, he would prefer that the Shia militia stayed out of the fight against Daesh there. He alleged that since reports emerged of the Shia militia’s atrocities in Tikrit, Daesh had been frightening people of Mosul about dangers of an Iraqi government’s operation backed by al-Hashid al-Shaabi.
He added that the participation of the Shia groups, allegedly backed by Iran, could mix things up during the operation.
Losing Mosul
Al-Nujaifi claimed that the central Iraqi government’s police force had handed over Mosul to Daesh in June 2014. He also exonerated himself from the failure of protecting Mosul.
“Daesh had seized control of Mosul in just three days. Police forces handed over Mosul to Daesh inch by inch. I did not have any military authority as governor. Former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki took the military authority from governors and gave it to commanders in the area,” he said.
“We did not have the authority to give orders to even a single police officer. The commanders were giving orders to police forces to leave their positions. The federal police then intentionally handed over the eastern part of the city. When the situation became like that the army forces in the western part became despondent and withdrew from their positions,” he added.
Sectarian fault lines
The governor highlighted the fact that sectarianism in Iraq became widespread only when the U.S. occupied the country in 2003.
He said that back then the Iraqi Kurds and Shia groups already had militias to protect themselves, but Iraq’s Sunni population did not have any protector, save the Iraqi army, which was already in a terrible state. The governor said that later some elements started backing extremists such as Daesh to divide Iraq.
“The first thing that we should do is reestablish Iraq’s unity. The first manifestation of this effort has begun between us and Kurdistan's government, which is an important convergence and unification between Sunni Arabs and Kurds. We wish for the same between us and Shias, because it is only then that a national unification of Iraq can become a reality,” al-Nujaifi added.
