Iraqi official says no agreement reached yet between Iraq and Turkey

ISTANBUL

AP photo

An Iraqi government official said the statements of U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter claiming that Iraq and Turkey have  agreed in principle over the latter’s much-debated involvement in a military operation to retake Mosul from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) did not reflect the truth, BBC has reported on Oct. 22.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the Iraqi official said his country was still determined in its approach to Turkish military presence on their soil and added “Turkey does not play a role in Mosul’s liberation.”

“What we expect from Turkey is that it stands by Iraq in the war against DAESH terror, that it does not violate Iraq’s sovereignty, that it shows respect to the neighbor ties and that it does not threaten the unity of the people of Iraq in Mosul or in somewhere else,” said the officials, using ISIL’s Arabic acronym, DAESH.

Carter said on Oct. 21 the details of Ankara’s possible role in the operation had not been shaped yet as they were also awaiting confirmation from Baghdad.

"That will have to obviously be something that the Iraqi government will need to agree to and I think there's agreement there in principle," Carter told reporters travelling with him in Turkey, according to Reuters.

Turkey’s involvement in the operation to liberate Iraq’s northern city of Mosul from ISIL, which was launched on Oct. 17, caused a row between Ankara and Baghdad.

Baghdad declared the Turkish troops in a camp in Bashiqa as illegal, wanting them to leave the country, while Turkey denied the allegations and said its troops were there on invitation.