Protesters in Baghdad call for withdrawal of Turkish troops from northern Iraq
By Seamus Kearney



"The demand for this training programme came from the governor of Mosul and the Iraqi Interior Minister knew about it"

BAGHDAD: -- Hundreds of protesters have gathered outside the Turkish embassy in Baghdad, demanding the withdrawal of Turkish troops from the north of the country.

Despite Iraq’s ultimatum on Sunday for Ankara to pull out its soldiers within 48 hours, there are no signs of that happening.

One protester, Hussein Habib, said: “If they don’t respond to our demands and withdraw their invading force – yes, the Turkish forces invaded – we will demand a boycott of Turkish goods and the cutting off of all political and economic relations.”

Turkey maintains it sent the troops to a Kurdish controlled area with Baghdad’s full knowledge as part of efforts to fight ISIL militants.

It says it has halted the deployment but will not pull out the troops already there.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told parliament: “As (the local Kurdish leader) Mr. Barzani said, these Peshmerga trained by Turkish soldiers contributed to the recapturing of Sinjar.

“These Kurdish, Turkmen and Arabic fighters have been trained by our soldiers. The demand for this training programme came from the governor of Mosul and the Iraqi Interior Minister knew about it.”

ISIL took over the northern city of Mosul in June last year.

Baghdad has called for an urgent meeting at the UN over the issue and for NATO to apply diplomatic pressure on Turkey.


-- (c) Copyright Euronews 2015-12-09

Yep, shoot a Russian jet down, which may or may not have entered Turkish air space, and if so only for a few seconds.

But it's o k to invade a neighboring country, buy ISIL oil (especially if the profits go to the president's family), allow fighters and arms to flow freely over borders, and move Turkey from it's secular basis to more of an Islamic country.

Turkey - a wonderful NATO ally, soon to be EU member and Shengen will no doubt follow.

Turkey troops are in Kurdish controlled north Iraq to help and train the Peshmerga troops at the request of the Kurds.

The Iraq government has done little to help the Kurds, cutting off their budget allowance and stopping arms intended for Kurdistan that international countries are sending

Turkey is bad, but the Iraq government is corrupt to the core and far worse , they have not invaded they have been there to help