The media office of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi responded to the remarks of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and described it as irresponsible.
Abadi’s spokesman, Saad al-Haythi, said, “Erdogan’s remarks are irresponsible and reflect an exaggerated speech.”
“We have come to the belief that Turkey is not keen on resolving any issues or withdrawing its troops from Iraqi territory.”
“Turkey does not respect the mutual interests of between it and Iraq, and this could lead to a security threat in the Kurdistan Region, Iraq and the wider region in general,” Hadithi explained on Wednesday.
The spokesman also said that every foreign nation providing military aid to Iraq are doing so with the full consent of the Iraqi government, but Turkish troops are in the country without request, consent or coordination with the Iraqi government, and this is what has caused the tensions between the two nations.
Earlier, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, that Turkey will not take instructions from Iraq, and told Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi to know his place and not cross the line.
“You are not my interlocutor, you are not at my level, you are not my equivalent, you are not of the same quality as me,””Erdogan said, addressing al-Abadi’s criticism of the Turkish military presence on Iraq’s territory.
“Your screaming and shouting in Iraq is of no importance to us. You should know that we will go our own way.”
Turkey-Iraq relations have been at an impasse since last December, when Ankara deployed troops to the region of Bashiqa, northeast of Mosul, with a stated goal of training fighters against Takfiri ISIL group.
Baghdad called the deployment a blatant violation of Iraq’s sovereignty and demanded that the Turkish troops be withdrawn immediately, but Ankara has consistently ignored the request.
Source: Agencies
