Turkey sticks its neck out again, this time in Iraq
Ankara’s unusually loud public acknowledgement of sending reinforcement soldiers into Iraq shows Turkey hopes to establish its own territory there.
In its second incredibly controversial move in as many weeks, Turkey drew Baghdad's wrath over the weekend by dispatching uninvited reinforcement troops to Iraq. While Turkey said the move was merely routine, Baghdad called it a “violation of sovereignty” and told Ankara it had 48 hours to get those troops out.
Turkey has since said it will send no more troops but has not withdrawn any soldiers.
Ankara deployed the troops to the Bashiqa area of Iraq, just north of Mosul, the night of Dec. 4 — less than two weeks after Turkey downed a Russian warplane Nov. 24 near the Turkish-Syrian border.
About 80 Turkish special forces personnel have been giving military training for more than a year to Kurdish peshmerga, Turkmen and Sunni Arabs. Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu described the arrival of new troops as “a routine rotation and reinforcement.” However, the elements of the new Turkish troops and reports circulating in corridors of Ankara that the dispatch will continue suggest that this was more than a routine movement.
