Turkish chief of staff Akar visits US

Sevil Erkuş - ANKARA

DHA photo

Turkish Chief of General Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar is visiting the U.S. on Oct. 14 in order to participate at a meeting of the anti-Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) coalition, according to military sources. 

The top commanders of the anti-ISIL coalition forces last convened six months ago.

A planned operation to drive ISIL out of Mosul in Iraq is expected to start within a few days. A Turkish official told the Hürriyet Daily News that around 1,500 of the 3,000 Turkish-trained forces are expected to participate in the Mosul offensive under the command of the Iraqi army

Ahead of the Mosul operation, Turkey and Iraq, with the facilitation of the U.S., have been negotiating the mandate of the Turkish forces in the Bashiqa camp in northern Iraq, the official stated.  

Baghdad recently objected to Turkey’s military presence in Bashiqa, which is 20 kilometers east of Mosul, with the Iraqi Parliament describing Turkish troops in the country as “hostile occupying forces.”