Turkey to be at Mosul operation, negotiation table: Erdoğan

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has recalled the crucial importance of Turkey's participation to Mosul operation, saying that the country cannot be kept out of the operation against the Daesh terrorists, as it has a 350-kilometer-long border with Iraq.

“Fourteen years ago, the United States didn't wait for an invitation from Baghdad. Turkey cannot wait without doing anything, while Iraq is witnessing a blood bath. We will both contribute to the Mosul operation and sit at the negotiation table," Erdoğan said in his speech at the International Law Congress in Istanbul.

“Turkey is the one which has been in Mosul's Bashiqa since the beginning. We were the one who trained the troops there. If we hadn't done these things, then you wouldn't find any troops to fight against Daesh now," he said.

Erdoğan also said that Ankara will never let sectarian conflict thrive there.

“The guns which were delivered to PKK/PYD were used by Daesh against us. Any party which supports terrorism is digging its own grave," he said.