Turkey deployed additional troops on Wednesday near its border with Iraq, Anadolu news agency has reported. The reinforcements included a convoy of tanks which arrived under heavy security cover in the state of Chernak near the border.

The Turkish army has been reinforcing its presence along the borders it shares with both Syria and Iraq. It has also been carrying out manoeuvres near the Habur border crossing where it was joined by Iraqi troops on 26 September.

Iraq’s Foreign Ministry has sent an official request to the Turkish and Iranian Embassies calling on them to close their border crossings with the Kurdistan region and stop all commercial transactions related to the export of oil from the region, and to deal directly with the federal government in Baghdad. The move comes in response to the Kurdistan independence referendum held on 25 September.

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