Iraq says sovereignty "red line," must be respected by Turkey

Iraq on Tuesday said its sovereignty is a "red line" which neighboring Turkey must respect, rejecting the deployment of Turkish troops in northern Iraq without a prior agreement between the two countries.

A statement by the government said that the Iraqi Council of Ministers, headed by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, held a meeting and discussed the latest deployment of the Turkish troops near Mosul, the capital of Iraq's northern province of Nineveh.

"The Council stressed that the national sovereignty and the country's geographical borders are a red line, in particular the Iraqi government has not signed agreement, or allow the neighboring Turkey to go beyond the border of our country under any pretext," the statement said.

It said that the council has authorized Abadi to take appropriate steps and measures in respect with the deployment of Turkish troops inside Iraq.

The members of the council unanimously agreed that the entry of Turkish forces is "unacceptable and condemnable", the statement said, adding that the government of Iraq renewed its demand of the withdrawal of Turkish forces.

The government also said that "at the time the (Iraqi) government is keen to sustain the good neighborly relationship, it confirms its right to take the actions that would safeguard the national sovereignty."

The crisis between the two countries sparked over the weekend when reports said a Turkish training battalion equipped with armored vehicles was deployed near the city of Mosul to provide training to Iraqi paramilitary groups against IS militants.

However, Ankara maintained that the move to send troops to Iraq was to due to increasing clashes with the Islamic State (IS) in Mosul, capital of Nineveh province, has been under IS control since June 2014.

On Tuesday, Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tanju Bilgic said his government has halted the deployment of additional troops to northern Iraq for now but will not withdraw those already there.

He also said that Turkish military has trained 2441 people for Mosul National Guards in Bashiqa camp of Northern Iraq, adding that the training mission has been in coordination with the Iraqi Kurdish Regional Government and Iraqi authorities.

Turkey deployed troops to Iraq since 2014 and trained 2038 Peshmerga forces of Iraqi Kurdish Regional Government in Diyala region and the training mission in Bashiqa camps has been carried on since March 2015 is part of efforts to defeat Islamic State in Iraq, the spokesperson said.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu had a phone conversation with his Iraqi counterpart late Monday and reiterated Turkey's respect for Iraq's territorial integrity, Bilgic told reporters.

Meanwhile, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Tuesday that he wanted to visit Baghdad as soon as possible.

Turkey deployed more soldiers in the camp on Thursday, making total number of Turkish troops 600. Enditem