Turkey's troops in Northern Iraq at PM Abadi's request: Erdoğan

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that Turkish troops have been deployed at a military base in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul at the request of Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi since 2014. Erdoğan criticized the Iraqi authority for making it a fresh issue.

"Turkish soldiers are in Basheeqa camp at the request of Haider al-Abadi in 2014. Now I am asking why he has been silent since 2014," Erdogan said in an interview with Al-Jazeera on Wednesday.

Last week, Turkey replaced its military personnel in the camp near Daesh-controlled Mosul, and sent a new battalion to train Iraqi forces for launching an operation against the terrorist group to retake the city.

The Northern Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) also announced that deployment of new troops was a part of routine tasks. However, Iraqi authorities suddenly perceived the situation as a problem; they issued an ultimatum for Turkey to withdraw its soldiers within 48 hours, otherwise they might take the case to the UN Security Council. The deadline passed and Russia took the case to UNSC but the council refused it.

“We were asked by Prime Minister [Haider] Al-Abadi to help train soldiers and, at his request, we set up a training camp in Bashiqa in 2014," Erdoğan told the Qatar-based Channel and added, that Al-Abadi “did not say a word until just now" because of developments in the region.

The Iraqi reaction came at a time when Turkey and Russia are embroiled in tensions over the downing of a Russian jet by Turkish military craft near the Syrian border after it violated Turkish airspace.

Baghdad is believed to take this kind of stance against Turkey at Moscow's instigation, as Russia vowed to punish Turkey using other means than military retaliation.

Iraq asked NATO on Tuesday to pressure alliance member Turkey to withdraw its troops immediately from northern Iraq after Ankara said it would not deploy any more, but refused to pull out those already there. NATO also found Turkey in the right as it acted according to a pre-arranged agreement with Baghdad.

In the Al Jazeera interview, Erdoğan also said that Iraq and Iran's governments pursue sectarian policies both in Syria and Iraq.

"What will happen to Sunnis? There are Sunni Arabs, Sunni Turkmen and Sunni Kurds? What will happen to their security? They need a sense of security," Erdoğan said, criticizing the Shia-dominated Iraqi government.

"For a long time, mainly due to the regional governance in northern Iraq, people lost their rights. They need their rights back. A lot of Arabs in the region have lost their rights. Unfortunately, we cannot see fair governance in Iraq. That's why people there are so worried," he said.

Meanwhile, KRG President Masoud Barzani visited Ankara, where he met with the Turkish president, Prime Minister and intelligence chief, respectively.

Mosul was under control of the Northern Iraqi KRG authority before it was seized by Daesh militants in 2014. Barzani said Turkish military deployment near the city had come after a mutual understanding with Baghdad and Ankara, and it was not a new issue.

Turkey's Undersecretary of the Foreign Ministry Feridun Sinirlioğlu and national Intelligence Organization chief Hakan Fidan are paying an official visit to Baghdad to discuss the issue with Iraqi government.

Ankara seeks to resolve the issue through diplomacy, insisting that it respects the territorial integrity of Iraq and it has no intention of intervening in Iraq.