BAGHDAD
Turkish National Defense Minister Ismet Yilmaz said Wednesday that Turkey is ready to give any kind of “intelligence and logistical support” to the Iraqi government in fighting terrorism.
“In addition to this support we are ready to help the Iraqi army and the Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga forces with equipment and training,” Yilmaz said during a joint press conference with Iraqi Defense Minister Halit el-Ubeydi in Baghdad.
"We will stand by Iraq should there be an operation to retake Mosul,” Yilmaz said.
The Iraqi army and Kurdish forces, in cooperation with local Shiite and Sunni militias, are waiting to initiate a major offensive against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, known also as Daesh, in the coming weeks to take the control of Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city.
Yilmaz said that Turkey will continue with its military aid to the Iraqi government, after two C-130 Turkish military planes landed in Muthenna Air Base in Baghdad on Tuesday.
The Turkish minister said that Ankara is ready to donate humanitarian aid and set up camps for those that will be forced to leave Mosul in face of operation.
Iraq has plunged into a security vacuum since June 2014, when Daesh stormed the northern province of Mosul and declared what it called a caliphate in Iraq and Syria.
Daesh massacres and the massive displacement of local people led to the creation of an international coalition against the terror group. The U.S.-led coalition is staging airstrikes against Daesh objectives in Iraq and Syria since mid-September 2014.
Iraqi security forces backed by Shiite militias launched a ground offensive against Daesh on Monday to recapture Tikrit city, aiming to approach the rebel group’s stronghold of Mosul. Tikrit, a Sunni-majority city, was the homeland of the deceased Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
