Turkey announced Saturday it would move its troops from Iraq after weeks of tensions over its military presence near the city of Mosul, according to a statement from the country’s Foreign Ministry.
The Turkish government didn’t say where the troops would move to. It had said troops were deployed to the Bashiqa military base in northern Iraq earlier this month to protect a mission to train and advise Iraqi forces in their fight against Daesh.
But Iraq’s government has insisted that it never invited the Turkish forces and that their presence constituted a violation of Iraqi sovereignty. Iraqi President Fuad Masum said Turkey violated international laws when its military entered the country.
The move comes just 8 hours after U.S. President Barack Obama urged Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to take steps to “de-escalate” tensions.
“Turkey reiterates its support for Iraq’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and acknowledges the miscommunication with the government of Iraq over the recent deployments of Turkish protection forces to support training activities for Iraqi forces in their campaign against DAESH in northern Iraq,” the Turkish statement said.
