Turkey Withdraws Some Troops from Base in Northern Iraq

On Monday, December 14, Turkey announced that a few days after Baghdad's request for the 'immediate' withdrawal of its forces from Iraqi territory, it had pulled some of its soldiers from a camp near Mosul in northern Iraq. According to the Associated Press, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu stated that a group of Turkish soldiers left the camp 'due to military necessities'; he did not provide further details. The Turkish state news agency Anadolu reported, citing military sources, that these soldiers had moved to northern areas of Iraq as part of a 'new military arrangement.' The report did not specify whether these forces would remain in northern Iraq or return to Turkey. Anadolu added that the soldiers were transported in a convoy consisting of 10-12 vehicles, but no details about their number were released. This news comes as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated on Friday, December 11, that his country 'will not bow' to threats from Iraq and that these forces 'cannot leave Iraq at this time.' Turkey has stationed its military in a base located north of Mosul city, near the border of the area controlled by the Islamic State (ISIS), claiming the purpose of this action is to 'assist in training local Kurdish and Sunni forces.' Ankara states that this training camp, located in the Bashiqa region, 30 kilometers northeast of Mosul, was established in coordination with the Iraqi Ministry of Defense and the Mosul governorate. However, the recent entry of additional Turkish forces into this camp, which occurred this month, angered the Iraqi government to the extent that Iraq complained to the United Nations Security Council about Ankara. Iraq's complaint against Turkey was submitted to the Security Council at the end of a 48-hour deadline set by Baghdad for Ankara to withdraw its troops from northern Iraq. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi had repeatedly called on Turkey to respect Iraq's territorial integrity last week. Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu sent two of his influential men in foreign policy and security - Hakan Fidan, the head of intelligence, and Feridun Sinirlioglu, the foreign minister - to Baghdad last week to resolve tensions. Following that, Davutoglu stated that an agreement had been reached regarding the 'reorganization' of the Turkish army in this region, but he did not mention the details of this agreement. Meanwhile, on Saturday, thousands of Iraqi citizens protested in Baghdad and Basra against the presence of Turkish military forces in northern Iraq. Reports indicate that Ayatollah Ali Sistani, a Shia authority residing in Najaf, had previously urged the Iraqi government not to be indifferent to violations of the country's territory without naming Turkey. According to Reuters, Hadi al-Amiri, the commander of the Shia Badr forces, addressed the protesters in Tahrir Square in central Baghdad on Saturday, stating that he considers the presence of foreign forces in Iraq as an invasion of Iraq's territorial integrity.