Erdoğan says Iraq cannot handle Mosul assault alone

Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan said on Saturday that Iraq could not deal alone with driving Daesh from the city of Mosul and that the presence of Turkish forces in a nearby military camp was an insurance against attacks on Turkey.

Speaking at a ceremony in the Black Sea town of Rize, Erdoğan said Turkey would not allow Daesh or any other organisation to control Mosul.

Turkey's military has been training over 3,000 local Iraqi fighters and Peshmergha forces in the Bashiqa military camp near Mosul to liberate the city from Daesh terrorists.

The presence of Turkey's military in the area, which has been station in 2014 under the request of Iraqi government, had brought to the font and attempted to show an issue of conflict by the Iraqi central government.

Washington also fueling the dispute as Ankara and Baghdad have been locked in a fierce row over who should take part in the planned U.S.-backed assault on Mosul.

Erdoğan said in an earlier remark that Turkey's military will join the operation.

He also said Turkish-backed rebels in neighboring Syria were advancing on the Daesh-held village of Dabiq in the country's northwest.

"We entered Jarabulus with opposition forces and now we're advancing on Dabiq. We will establish a 5000 km square area safety zone," Erdoğan said.