Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 11
By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:
By convening the UN Security Council meeting without the corresponding request of Iraq, Russia has disgraced itself, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Dec.11 in an interview with the Turkish NTV TV channel.
He said that Russia is trying to use every opportunity to speak out against Turkey.
Cavusoglu said that bilateral relations of Iraq and Turkey shouldn't be a part of Russian interests' sphere.
The foreign minister went on to add that the Turkish tank battalion is in Iraq as part of the agreement with Baghdad.
"The Iraqi authorities have repeatedly visited the camp of the Turkish army," said Cavusoglu.
The aggravation of relations of the central government of Iraq with Ankara is due to the influence of external forces, according to him.
"The Turkish army is in Iraq not to participate in military operations against the "Islamic State", but for the military training of the Kurdish military forces," he said.
Turkish Armed Forces' tank battalion deployed in the Iraqi province of Nineveh tasked to prepare the Kurdish Peshmerga military forces to fight the IS in the framework of an agreement with the Iraqi authorities.
Baghdad accused Turkey of military invasion and demanded the Turkish troops to left the country. A number of Iraqi MPs demanded from the authorities to launch a military operation against the Turkish troops.
This is while earlier Turkish Foreign Ministry said that Ankara is not going to send new military units to Iraq, and also bring out the already existing military contingent.
Iraq also reportedly said it will impose economic sanctions on Ankara in response to the fact that Turkey doesn't bring out the tank battalion from the Iraqi province of Nineveh. To sign any contracts with Turkish companies can be prohibited for Iraqi companies as a part of the economic sanctions.
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