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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said that the presence of Turkish forces in Iraq “hinders our efforts to liberate Mosul” from the Islamic State (ISIS), and called on the international community to demand Turkey withdraw its forces, in a speech to world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday.“I call on the international community to support and respect the sovereignty of Iraq and to call on Turkey to withdraw its forces in Iraq, whose presence, despite the rejections from the Iraqi people, hinders our efforts to liberate Nineveh province (Mosul),” Abadi said.He said the interference of other states in the country’s internal affairs “has exasperated the civilian suffering” and “deepened the divisions in our region which is already suffering from internal wars, and the external interventions have brought the civilian suffering to a serious level.”Turkish armed forces are in Bashiqa, northern Iraq, providing training for Peshmerga and Iraqi Sunni forces. Last December, Turkey boosted its troop numbers at the camp sparking a diplomatic confrontation with Baghdad who asserted that the Turkish troops were in the country without Baghdad’s permission or knowledge. Turkey maintained that the troops were necessary to protect their training mission at the camp.Last Friday, Firdous al-Awadi, a member of the State of Law coalition led by former Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, said the local militias have the right to use force against the Turkish troops stationed in Iraq.“Turkish forces will not be safe from attacks by resistance groups and Hashd al-Shaabi who have all the rights to expel them by force,” she said.Hashd al-Shaabi is a mainly Shiite militia and is expected to take part in the operation to recapture Mosul which has been under the control of ISIS since June 2014.