Cavusoglu: Turkey trained Mosul forces to fight Daesh
Foreign Minister signals that Turkey may increase or reduce the number of its soldiers in northern Iraq
A senior Turkish minister has said the country is training Mosul forces in Iraq to destroy the Daesh terror organization.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told Turkish NTV on Friday: “These [Mosul National Guards] are being trained to destroy Daesh in Iraq.”
“At the moment, we are fighting together with the coalition in Syria. Turkey wants to join the operations also in Iraq, because the terror organization must be wiped out of the two countries,” Cavusoglu added.
Cavusoglu’s comments come as tension between Ankara and Baghdad remains high over the recent deployment of Turkish military troops to Bashiqa, near Mosul.
Approximately 150 Turkish soldiers were deployed near Mosul on Dec. 4 to replace training forces already in the area. In addition, 20-25 tanks were also sent to the region.
Cavusoglu said Turkey needed to eliminate Bagdad’s concerns regarding the issue. In that direction, Cavusoglu said, Turkey’s defense minister had spoken to his Iraqi counterpart.
Cavusoglu confirmed that he had also spoken for 90 minutes with Iraq’s foreign minister and that Turkish premier Ahmet Davutoglu had sent a letter to Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.
“What we all stressed is that Turkey is the country that advocates and respects most Iraq’s territorial integrity and sovereignty,” Cavusoglu said.
Abadi has said the solution to Iraqi-Turkey disagreement can only be found by a "full withdrawal of Turkish troops from Iraqi territory".
However, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Thursday night: "It is out of the question, for now, to pull them out.”
Cavusoglu went a step further on Friday, saying that an increase in the number of Turkish soldiers in Mosul was possible.
“After evaluating all aspects, we will decide to increase or reduce the number (of Turkish soldiers in Mosul),” Cavusoglu said, adding that “perhaps, before the threat disappears completely there, we will feel the need to increase (the number of soldiers)”.
Cavusoglu insisted that legislation for the formation of a National Guard had been accepted by the Iraqi parliament and that the new government itself had invited Turkey to train its soldiers and policemen.
On Thursday, a Turkish delegation headed by the Turkish Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioglu and the head of the National Intelligence Organization, Hakan Fidan, visited Baghdad.
Asked about a possible visit by Turkish PM Davutoglu to Bagdad, Cavusoglu said that other high-level talks would take place, and at the end Davutoglu could go to Iraqi capital.
