DHAKA: Ankara would never take any step that would damage Iraq’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has said in a letter to his Iraqi counterpart, Haider al-Abadi, noting that Turkey would not deploy troops in the area until Baghdad’s concerns are assuaged.

‘There will be no deployment of forces to Bashiqa (Mosul town) until the sensitivities of Iraq are addressed,’ he was quoted by the sources as saying in the letter, reports Hurriyet Daily News.

Davutoğlu also said that Turkey will keep providing support to the Iraqi government in fight against the Islamic State (IS) of Iraq and Syria, and that Ankara wants to enhance its cooperation with Baghdad in that regard.

The Turkish military recently released details of a training program for Kurdish Peshmerga fighters that it has been operating in Iraq.

The army statement came after December 4’s deployment of around 150 Turkish troops to replace training forces already in Mosul. Along with the troops, 20 to 25 tanks were also dispatched to the area.

Turkish army sources said on December 5 that they had been training fighters in four provinces of northern Iraq with the ultimate aim of fighting IS.

The defense ministers of Turkey and Iraq talked on the phone on December 5.

In a statement, Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) spokesperson Sefin Dizayi confirmed that Turkish troop reinforcements had arrived in Mosul.

According to the KRG, the fresh deployments of Turkish military equipment and experts were meant to replace a unit already deployed in northern Iraq.

BDST: 2051 HRS, DEC 07, 2015
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** Iraq threatens Turkey with UN action