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Iraq reiterated its demand that Turkey must withdraw its troops from the north of the country and threatened to use armed force if peaceful resolutions failed, Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said Wednesday, adding that Baghdad is committed to peaceful diplomatic channels to avoid a confrontation with their northern neighbor.
"If there is no other solution but this (military), then we will adopt this solution. If we are forced to fight and defend our sovereignty and riches, we will be forced to fight," Jaafari told reporters in the Iraqi capital.
The standoff between the two countries started early December when the Turkish army deployed 150 troops in the Bashiqa military base in Nineveh province in north of Iraq in order to train Kurdish and Sunni anti-Islamic State group fighters.
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The move infuriated the central government in Baghdad which called the deployment an incursion by Turkey. The Iraqi government filed a complaint at the United Nations Security Council against Ankara demanding the withdrawal of the troops.
Ankara, who admitted there had been a “miscommunication” between the two capitals, started pulling some of the troops from the base and moved them to the northern autonomous Kurdish region. However, some Turkish troops remain in the Iraqi territory of Nineveh.
Iraqi security forces have had only a limited presence in Nineveh province where the camp is located since collapsing in June 2014 in the face of the advance by Islamic State group.
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Despite earlier shortcomings, in recent weeks the Iraqi army has regrouped and retrained as it scored one of its biggest victories against the Islamic State group this week when it regained control of the city of Ramadi, the capital of the eastern Anbar province.
The fall of Ramadi some 18 months ago to the extremist group was an embarrassment for the Iraqi force as troops fled the city without a fight.
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