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Turkey, Peshmerga threatening Iraq sovereignty: Analsyt

Turkish army soldiers stand guard in southeastern city of Mardin, on March 22, 2016. (AFP photo)

While Iraqi troops are trying to recapture Mosul, the involvement of Turkish soldiers in the battle in support of Peshmerga fighters have raised worries in Baghdad. 

Middle East expert James Petras said on Friday that the role which militant Kurds were playing along with Turkish troops "obviously in alliance with the United States in expanding their influence” would lead to problems. 

“The question is where they are going beyond Mosul. Are they thinking of occupying another part of Iraq? Are they simply adding to the anti-ISIS (Daesh) front?” he told Press TV. 

Turkey's deployment of troops to several bases in Iraq's Kurdish-populated region has triggered a serious diplomatic dispute with the central government in Baghdad. Ankara claims the troops are there to train Kurdish militants to oust Daesh terrorists from Iraq.   

Petras said the operations of Turkish troops and Peshmerga militias are "a threat to the sovereignty of Iraq” just like Daesh terrorists. 

The Iraqi government is distrustful of Turkey's motives in Mosul, “because the Turks have indicated a desire to reconstruct a kind of an Ottoman Empire" and have been working with militant Kurds to divide up Iraq, he added. 

The analyst also said the ability of the Iraqi forces to defeat Daesh terrorists should “put enormous energy behind efforts to reform the government in Baghdad” and to form a national unity administration.


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