Baku, Azerbaijan, June 17
By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:
The Turkish foreign ministry urged its citizens to leave the Iraqi cities of Mosul, Kirkuk, Salah ad Din, Diyala, Anbar, Baghdad and Basra, the Turkish newspaper Milliyet reported on June 17.
The reason was the seizure of a number of Iraqi cities by militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) terrorist group.
Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said on June 13 that there is no threat to the life of Turkish citizens in Iraq.
He noted that in case of serious danger, Turkey can evacuate its citizens from Iraq.
Currently, some 125,000 Turkish citizens are in Iraq.
The Iraqi army lost control over the Samarra city on June 13.
This is the third city in Iraq, which is completely controlled by ISIL militants. Earlier, the ISIL captured the cities of Mosul and Tikrit.
Despite Kirkuk is controlled by Peshmerga (special forces, subordinate to the Kurdish administration), the fights are continuing in several residential areas in northern Iraq between Peshmerga and the ISIL.
On June 10, the ISIL militants captured the administrative center of the Mosul of the northern Iraqi Province of Ninawa, a number of small settlements, as well as part of the Salah al Din Province, including its center - the city of Tikrit.
The militants began controlling the Iraqi town of Tal Afar, densely populated by Turkmens, on June 16.