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US tries to defuse Iraq-Turkey war of words over Mosul
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] As ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... and Iraq traded insults over the Turkish troop presence outside djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... on Tuesday, the United States urged its allies to resolve the spat before a major offensive on the city. Iraq is preparing to fight to liberate Mosul from ISIS with support from the United States and a broad -- though sometimes fractious -- coalition of international partners. But recent preparations for the looming offensive have been overshadowed by tensions between Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... and Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. Abadi has repeatedly urged Turkey to withdraw troops deployed near the northern city in an area nominally part of Iraq but controlled by forces loyal to the country’s autonomous Kurdish region. Erdogan has refused, insisting that Turkey has a role to play in liberating the city from the turban, and with tempers rising, both sides have resorted to insults. In Washington, State Department front man John Kirby said the operation would be led by Iraq and that it was a matter for Baghdad which forces should be deployed on its sovereign territory. "The Turkish forces that are deployed in Iraq are not there as part of the international coalition and the situation in Bashiqa is a matter for the governments of Iraq and Turkey to resolve," he said. Ankara maintains an estimated 2,000 troops in Iraq, around 500 of them in the Bashiqa camp training local fighters whom Turkish media say will join the battle to recapture Mosul. Posted by: Fred 2016-10-13 |
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