Jaafari Says Turkish Troops Should Be Withdrawn From Iraqi Territory

BAGHDAD, IRAQ (NINA) - Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari confirmed that he told Turkish Foreign Minister, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu the need to accelerate the withdrawal of Turkish troops from Iraq,. "We stressed the necessity of economic cooperation and opening investment with Turkey, especially in the liberated areas," Jaafari told a joint press conference with his Turkish counterpart, added "We discussed the issue of speeding up the withdrawal of Turkish troops from Iraq in Ba'shiqah camp." Jaafari said in response to a question by NINA on the Iranian- Turkish coordination to track down the PKK's fighters inside Iraqi territory that "Iraq will not allow its territory to be a region of regional conflict and the forces of the PKK is a security crisis emerged when Iraq in a war with Daesh and Iraq did not bring this crisis to Iraq." For his part, the Turkish Foreign Minister, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu welcomed the launch of the liberation of Tall Afar to liberate it from Daesh organization, noting the importance of preserving the Turkmen identity of the city. About Ba'shiqah camp, Çavuşoğlu confirmed that "the camp of Ba'shiqah has trained the Iraqis to fight against Daesh, and any decision regarding the Turkish forces in Iraq will be shared with Iraq," added "The stability of Iraq depends on getting rid of the terrorist organizations, the PKK, and Daesh" "The camp was able to kill 700 terrorists from Daesh and all the Turkish forces that were there had a big role in the liberation of Mosul," he said. On the independence of Kurdistan, he said that "the referendum is a wrong decision and Erbil should dialogue about their rights within the borders of Iraq, and we will intervene if both parties asked us to do so, Baghdad and Erbil, noting that his presence here is to support national unity and emphasize the unity of Iraq and territorial integrity. He explained, "Lifting the Kurdish flag over the Iraqi institutions in Kirkuk is contrary to the Iraqi constitution, and we will tell the Kurdistan government when we visit them today that they are wrong in this decision and the interest of the Kurds is in the interest of a unified Iraq." He continued that he will convey an invitation from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Ben Ali Yildirim to Prime Minister Haider Abadi to visit Ankara."/ End