Iraqi Defense Chief to Visit Turkey Only if Ankara Ready to Withdraw Troops

Iraqi Defense Minister Khaled Obeidi will accept the invitation of his Turkish counterpart to visit Ankara only in case Turkey sends "positive signals" on the matter of troops withdrawal from northern Iraq, a spokesman for the Iraqi Defense Ministry said Monday.

DUBAI (Sputnik) — On Friday, media reports emerged saying that up to 150 Turkish military personnel had been deployed in northern Iraq's Nineveh province allegedly to provide training to Kurdish Peshmerga fighters.

According to the spokesman, Turkish Defense Minister Ismet Yilmaz in a telephone conversation with Obeidi on Sunday invited him to travel to Ankara and discuss the situation.

"The defense minister of Iraq will start preparations for this visit only if Turkey sends positive signals on readiness to resolve the situation," the spokesman told the Iraqi television channel Alsumaria.

On Sunday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Turkish troops were deployed in Iraq on the country’s Defense Ministry invitation.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Abadi said the deployment of Turkish servicemen on the Iraqi territory had been carried out without the consent and knowledge of the Iraqi authorities and represented a violation of sovereignty and a breach of the principles of good neighborliness.

On Monday, Abadi gave Ankara 24 hours to withdraw its troops from Iraq to avoid the matter being reviewed by the UN Security Council.

Earlier in the day, the governor of the Iraqi province of Nineveh told Sputnik the number of Turkish servicemen in the region stands at around 900.