Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 19
By Rufiz Hafizoglu – Trend:
Baghdad is against the expected military operations by Turkey in Iraq if they are not coordinated with the country’s government, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, head of Iraq's Foreign Ministry, said Sept. 19, Hurriyet newspaper reported.
“If the Turkish Armed Forces begin operations in Iraq against the “Islamic State” (IS, ISIL, ISIS or Daesh) terrorist group, they should be coordinated with the Iraqi government,” he said.
Turkish President Recep Tayip Erdogan has previously said that any threat for Turkey coming from the neighboring countries, in particular Syria and Iraq, must be neutralized.
With regards to Iraq, Erdogan had said that Turkey's Armed Forces may participate in the operation for the liberation of the Iraqi city of Mosul, taken over by IS militants.
Turkey has intelligence data that concentration of troops of militants is observed in northern Iraqi city of Mosul, as well as Iraqi town of Telafer consisting of mainly ethnic Turkmen, and these militants plan to kill the Turkmens living in northern Iraq, which is unacceptable for Turkey, Erdogan had said.
Being one of the key oil centers of Iraq, the city of Mosul went entirely under the control of the IS terrorists June 10, 2014.