Turkey breaks Iraq agreement to send in more troops

Bad Habits Die Hard: Turkey to Beef Up Troop Presence in Iraq

… from Sputnik,  Moscow

[ Editor’s Note: The ink is not dry from Turkey’s recent admission of a “misunderstanding” over sending troops into Iraq, but would not do so again without consultations with Baghdad. Today Davutoglu tells us Turkey will do so, and for the reason I have editorialized about.

The Turks simply claim it is for an anti-terrorism operation to defend themselves so having the host countries permission might be nice, but not necessary.

Turkey must feel, or have gotten the word, that the UN will take no action against it. This gets even more confusing when the US had also formally stepped in and said Turkey have no right to put troops in without Iraq’s permission.

This whole thing is turning into a sitcom as we have had the Pentagon saying it is going to be running expanded Special Operations missions, despite Baghdad saying no. And since the US has no bases there they must be planning to use friendly ones in the Kurdish area where the Iraq Defense forces have no control, and surprise, surprise, where the Turks will be operating.

Notice how despite Iraq’s protestations, it never went to the UN to demand a resolution against the US for putting combat troops in, probably because the US would veto. Iraq has urged the  UN to censure Turkey but it is dragging its feet so far, and not Turkey has preempted them with the “we will do what we want ” move. If this all seems a little confusing to you, join the club, and welcome to the new game being played now where what countries say and do can turn on a dime, including the reasons for doing so.

Such actions once would incur a tag of being called a “rogue nation”, but it seems now that if one is a NATO nation they can get a free pass. We will be ending the farce about NATO being a defensive organization in 2015, and the UN’s main charter plank that all nation’s territory is inviolable by another member nation. It’s all stage theater… Jim W. Dean ]

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– First published  …  December 22, 2015 –

Turkey will ramp up its military presence in Iraq, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Tuesday. Ankara will send additional forces to a Kurdish village in northern Iraq 17 kilometers from Mosul.

Turkey started withdrawing its troops on December 14, after Iraq had officially filed a complaint with the UN Security Council, calling on the United Nations to ensure an immediate pullout of the Turkish forces from its country’s territory.

“Unfortunately, the Iraqi army and security forces are unable to act effectively against ISIL… The fall of Mosul, the second largest city in Iraq, underscored the need for international participation in the conflict,” Prime Minister Ahmer Davutoglu told members of his ruling AK Party in parliament on Tuesday.

Earlier, Ankara said that it was continuing the withdrawal of its forces from the Bashiqa camp in Iraq’s northern Nineveh province.

“We are rendering support to the local Peshmerga and volunteers and will keep doing this as long as the terrorist threat persists. Our military men stationed there respect the territorial integrity of Iraq,” Davutoglu noted.

Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus later said that part of the Turkish military contingent had been moved elsewhere and that the Iraqi government had welcomed Ankara’s move. He also stated that the Turkish troops would stay on in Iraq until Mosul had been freed from Daesh occupation.

On December 4, Turkey deployed about 150 troops and 25 tanks to the Bashiqa camp in the northern Iraqi province, without Baghdad’s approval, allegedly as part of an international mission to train and equip Iraqi forces to fight Daesh.

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Jim W. Dean

Jim W. Dean was an active editor on VT from 2010-2022.  He was involved in operations, development, and writing, plus an active schedule of TV and radio interviews.

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