Iraq: Turkey troops near Mosul violating international law

[rooster59]

Iraq: Turkey troops near Mosul violating international law

QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, Associated Press


BAGHDAD (AP) — The presence of Turkish troops near the Islamic State-held city of Mosul in northern Iraq is a "violation" of international law, Iraq's president said Saturday.

President Fuad Masum called the move a "violation of international norms, laws and Iraq's national sovereignty," and said it was contributing to increased tensions in the region.

Hakim al-Zamili, the head of parliament's security and defense committee, went a step further, calling on Iraq's prime minister to launch airstrikes against the Turkish troops if they remained in Iraqi territory.

Turkey has said a military battalion equipped with armored vehicles has been in the Bashiqa region close to Mosul in the northern Ninevah province for the last five months as part of a training mission to help forces fighting the Islamic State group. Mosul fell to the extremists in June 2014 amid a stunning collapse of Iraqi security forces.

Plans to try to retake Mosul last spring were sidelined as the extremist group advanced on other fronts.

The founder of the training camp outside Mosul, former Ninevah governor Atheel al-Nujaifi, told The Associated Press that the Turkish trainers were at his base at the request of Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and Defense Minister Khaled al-Obeidi. He said the Turkish forces are training but not arming Sunni fighters.

"They didn't give us any weapons even though we asked them to," he said. "We equipped this force from the black market with our own money and we believe they're the best force to liberate Mosul... These people will be very effective to hold ground because they are from there and there'll be no resistance to them from local people."

Sunni fighters in Ninevah and the western Anbar province say the Shiite-dominated government has failed to provide them with the support and weaponry needed to defeat the IS group. The government fears that arming Sunni tribes and militias could backfire. Sunni grievances were a key factor fueling the rise of the IS group, and many Sunnis initially welcomed the extremists as liberators.

The U.S.-led coalition launched 12 airstrikes on IS targets in Iraq on Friday, including two near Mosul targeting tactical units and fighting positions.

___

Associated Press writers Susannah George in Baghdad and Balint Szlanko in Irbil, Iraq contributed to this report.

-- (c) Associated Press 2015-12-05

[surangw]

so all the while they pay attention to this situation, isis keeps creeping in ?

[retarius]

Turkey is playing foul here.

[jerome2]

A few russian bombs and them... and isis will win the world domination... good idea

[nodomino]

Every Prime Minister, President, King and Cabbage is playing a double-game in the Middle East. There are so many players playing so many plays that you'd need a scoreboard the size of Australia to keep track.

[Srikcir]

This is something that's difficult to understand.

"The presence of Turkish troops near the Islamic State-held city of Mosul in northern Iraq is a "violation" of international law"

Okay, Mosul lies within the sovereign boundary of Iraq so presence of Turkish troops does violate international law.

But Iraq is incapable of controlling sovereignty of the area. Iraqi citizens in Mosul have been annexed by terrorists into ISIL/ISIS who have established a government there. Iraq is partnering with over ten nations to fight on its soil and in Syria on behalf of Iraq's sovereignty, including Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga troops. That sounds like a violation of international law.

Iraq would be smarter to work with Turkey than alienating it.

[Orac]

Turkey weren't too happy to lose Mosul to Iraq after the first world war as they believed it should have been theirs after the armistice deal - maybe they see this as an opportunity to get it back!

[metisdead]

Some posts of a conspiratorial nature have been removed.

[Briggsy]

Turkey stating that this will be a permanent base on Iraqi soil. Their justification is an alleged agreement with the government of Kurdish-controlled Iraq.

[khunken]

This is something that's difficult to understand.

"The presence of Turkish troops near the Islamic State-held city of Mosul in northern Iraq is a "violation" of international law"

Okay, Mosul lies within the sovereign boundary of Iraq so presence of Turkish troops does violate international law.

But Iraq is incapable of controlling sovereignty of the area. Iraqi citizens in Mosul have been annexed by terrorists into ISIL/ISIS who have established a government there. Iraq is partnering with over ten nations to fight on its soil and in Syria on behalf of Iraq's sovereignty, including Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga troops. That sounds like a violation of international law.

Iraq would be smarter to work with Turkey than alienating it.

They would be better advised to give the Turks 10 warnings in 5 minutes or 'else'.

Realistically there's no telling which side the Turks are on as they're playing a two-faced game. Apparently the governor of Mosul has invited the Turks in on the basis of helping to rid Mosul of ISIS/ISIL, alongside the KUrds. Meanwhile Turkey continues to periodically invade other parts of Iraq to bomb the (PKK) Kurds.

There are many untrustworthy countries, militias, rebels & factions in a complex multi-faceted war of attrition in Iraq & Syria. Turkey would be near the top of that list.

[SilverBeast]

What an unreal mess over there.

Turkey buying cheap ISIS oil, Turkey shooting down a Russian Fighter jet that was fighting against ISIS. Turkey somehow being the only nation to advance to Mosul? <deleted>?

Something is really fishy here....

[oldsailor35]

Go tell that to Cameron and the rest of NATO. because if Turkey is there, then NATO is there .

Edited December 8, 2015 by oldsailor35