Iraq sends letter to UN over Turkish troop deployment

NEW YORK

Iraq on Friday sent a letter to the presidency of the UN Security Council demanding that Turkey withdraw its troops from northern Iraq.

U.S. Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power, who heads the 15-member council in December, confirmed to reporters that she had received the letter from Iraq's Ambassador Mohamed Ali Alhakim.

In the letter, whose Arabic original was seen by Anadolu Agency, Iraq calls the presence of Turkish elements in northern Iraq a violation of the UN Charter and Iraq's sovereignty, urging the Security Council to demand that Turkey immediately remove its forces.

Turkey has been running a training program since March in a training camp established in Bashiqa, near Mosul, to provide training to Iraqi volunteers as part of the fight against Daesh terrorist group. The Turkish troops in the camp were not given combat duties and responsibilities.

On Dec. 4, approximately 150 Turkish soldiers and 20 to 25 tanks were deployed to replace the training units already in the area, leading to tensions between Ankara and Baghdad.

According to Iraq's letter, Turkey deployed the troops "without any consultation or coordination with the federal government of Iraq".

Power told reporters following a council meeting on Burundi that any troop deployments in Iraq need to be done with the consent of the Iraqi government.

"I reassured [Alhakim] that that was America’s very strong position and urged that the dialogue continue between the Iraqi and Turkish governments to find an amicable way out of this difficult situation," she said.

On Friday, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Iraq's complaint to the Security Council was "not a sincere step".

“During a visit to Turkey in 2014, [Iraqi PM Haider al-] Abadi demanded [Turkish troops] for training," Erdogan said. "After these demands, we set up the Bashiqa camp. They are aware of all of this," he added.