Iraqi MP calls for Shia militias to use 'force' against Turkey

An Iraqi MP yesterday called on Prime Minister Haidar Al-Abadi to demand that Turkey “withdraw its forces from Iraq before the start of the operation to liberate Mosul,” warning that the Shia Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) militia has the right to expel Turkish forces from Iraq “by force.”

The threats against Turkish forces were made by Firdaous Al-Awadi, a Shia MP belonging to the State of Law political bloc headed by former prime minister, Nouri Al-Maliki.
“Turkish forces will not be safe from attacks by resistance groups and the Hashd al-Shaabi,” Al-Awadi said, using the Arabic name for the PMF. “The Turkish government will be considered responsible for any attacks on its forces present in Iraq,” she added.

Suggesting that Turkey was in league with Kurdish political groups, Al-Awadi said that Turkey aimed to further the agenda of “one [Kurdish] party” in Nineveh province that is calling for the absorption of parts of Nineveh into areas controlled by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
Turkey has close ties with Massoud Barzani, the leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and president of the KRG.

The Iraqi lawmaker then accused prominent Sunni Arab politicians of serving the interests of Turkey rather than the national interest. Her remarks were aimed at Osama and Atheel Al-Nujaifi, brothers hailing from Mosul who both formerly held the posts of parliamentary speaker and governor of Nineveh respectively.

According to the Kurdish Rudaw news agency, the former governor of Nineveh has called for Turkey to play a role in the military operation to liberate Mosul, citing Turkey’s recent success in Jarablus. On Turkey’s Jarablus success, Al-Nujaifi said: “The people of Mosul want to see the same thing in their city.”

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that his country is ready to participate in the Mosul offensive. “The solution to the Mosul problem passes through lending an ear to Turkey’s rational perspective and suggestions,” Erdogan said earlier this week. “Our hope is that the central government in Iraq will see this.”

Turkish forces are in Bashiqa, a town in northern Iraq, providing training for Peshmerga and Iraqi Sunni forces. Baghdad claims that Turkey is breaching its sovereignty, whilst Ankara insists that it is fulfilling its obligations to the KRG by training anti-Daesh fighters at its request.