Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım has said that Turkey's military presence in Iraq's Bashiqa will continue, dismissing Baghdad's harsh statement in which it calls on Turkey to withdraw its troops there.
"An operation will possibly be conducted against the Daesh terrorist in Mosul, as you all know. And everyone is also aware of the concerns of Turkey on Mosul. The reaction of Iraqi officials is incomprehensible. There are troops from 63 countries, however Baghdad is against the military presence of Turkey," he said on Thursday.
"Despite the statements of Iraqi forces, the Turkish military's presence will continue there. Iraqi officials got in over their head by saying these," Yıldırım said.
Turkish PM said that as much as a 1,000-kilometer-square area has been cleared from the terrorist so far, thanks to the Euphrates Shield operation that was conducted on August 24 with TUrkey's support.
The words of Yıldırım followed the Iraqi officials' statements, which say Turkish forces will not be allowed to participate in military operations aimed at liberating Mosul, an Iraqi city that Daesh has declared as its so-called headquarters.
On Wednesday, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has threatened Turkey by saying that Turkey risks triggering a regional war by keeping troops in Iraq.
Previously, a spokesman for the Iraqi Foreign Ministry said that recent remarks by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, regarding the need for the participation of Turkish forces in the Mosul operation, are straining bilateral ties.
Ankara, in December 2015, deployed about 150 soldiers equipped with heavy weapons and backed by two dozen tanks to Bashiqa of Mosul, aiming at training and equipping Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga forces in the fight against Daesh.
Iraq has suffered a devastating security gap since 2014, when Daesh captured the northern city of Mosul along with vast swathes of territory in the country's northern and western regions.
In recent months, the Iraqi army, backed by U.S.-led airstrikes and local allies on the ground, has since managed to retake much of the territory lost earlier to Daesh.
However, the terrorist group remains in firm control of several parts of the country, including Mosul.
