Prime minister Haider al-Abadi asks UN security council to order Turkey to withdraw troops near the Isis-controlled city of Mosul

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Iraq’s prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, has called for the immediate withdrawal of Turkish troops from northern Iraq in a national address, insisting no foreign forces are needed to fight the Islamic State group in his country.

Turkey has had troops in northern Iraq to help train local Kurdish and Sunni forces since 2014 but the arrival of additional troops last week sparked an uproar in Baghdad. Turkey subsequently halted new deployments but has refused to withdraw its soldiers.

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Iraq had already tried to solve the crisis with “peaceful and diplomatic means”, Abadi said in the televised address on Friday night.

“We gave our neighbour Turkey a time limit to withdraw its troops and not to close the door to dialogue,” he said.

Earlier on Friday, Abadi asked his foreign ministry to submit a complaint to the United Nations about the presence of Turkish troops near the Isis-held city of Mosul.

Abadi asked the security council to “shoulder its responsibilities” and order the withdrawal of the Turkish troops.

“This is a flagrant violation of the provisions and principles of the UN charter and in violation of the sanctity of Iraqi territory,” a statement from his office said.

US ambassador Samantha Power, the current council president, said on Friday night: “There’s growing alarm from the Iraqi government. Any troop deployment must have the consent of the Iraqi government.”

Iraq’s religious leaders admonished Turkey during a sermon in Karbala. Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani said Turkey should not have sent “troops to the territory of another state under the pretext of supporting the fight against terrorism” and called on the Iraqi government to “protect the sovereignty of Iraq”. The representative of the cleric, Ahmed al-Safi, relayed al-Sistani’s words during a Friday sermon.

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The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said on Friday that Turkey had no plans to withdraw troops and would continue with the training process “in agreement” with Iraq. He did not elaborate.

Erdoğan defended Turkey’s move to send more troops, saying Isis and other terror groups were “running wild” and Baghdad was unable to protect Turkish soldiers there.

“Are we to wait for the invitation of the central Iraqi government when there is an attack to our country? We have no such luxury,” Erdoğan said.

Earlier a government statement said the Turkish intelligence chief, Hakan Fidan, and foreign ministry undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioglu met with Iraqi officials in Baghdad and the sides agreed to work toward forming “new mechanisms” to deepen cooperation in security.