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Turkey claim of miscommunication with Iraq farce: Scholar

Sunday, 20 December 2015 6:58 AM [ Last Update: Sunday, 20 December 2015 8:38 AM ]

Iraqis hold a poster reading in Arabic “National sovereignty is our red line” as they hold anti-Turkey protest in Basra on December 12, 2015. ©AFP

Press TV has conducted an interview with Derek Ford, a scholar and professor from Philadelphia, to discuss a statement by the Turkish Foreign Ministry that acknowledges “miscommunication” with Baghdad over Ankara’s troop deployment to northern Iraq.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: Turkey first said that the troop deployment is in full coordination with Iraqi government, then it said it is fighting Daesh, then protecting its borders, now miscommunication and we still don’t know how many troops will be moving out and where they will be going?

Ford: Yeah, I mean that it’s clearly Turkey has not been cooperating with Iraq. It’s a clear violation of Iraqi sovereignty as been from the very beginning, clear violation of international law for that regard also, and it really has nothing to do with fighting ISIL.

I mean there’s clear documentation, there’s been years of documentation now that Turkey has actually been cooperating with ISIL, has been allowing ISIL fighters to cross freely in and out of this country, has actually been treating them in their hospitals. So the idea that this is actually some miscommunication and Turkey is also really concerned about ISIL is an absolute farce.

Press TV: What do you think is going to happen, given that Iraq has already said that they’ve exhausted all means to ask Turkey very pleasantly to withdraw their troops? What do you think is going to happen next, because, as you say, it is a violation of a country’s sovereignty?

Ford: Turkey has requested the United Nations take action, the United States has also asked Turkey to withdraw its troops. And I think that we can definitely hope that will be an impetus for the removal of troops.

Yet another intervention, another incursion by a foreign military power into Iraq, it’s certainly not going to help anything. It’s only going to further embroil the region in conflict.

And I think that the number one thing that needs to happen is that the sovereign borders of Iraq and of Syria need to be respected. Those governments need to be able to exercise control over their borders, determining the flow of people and weapons and everything else. And so I think that the hope is that the United Nations and the US will be able to help restrain Turkey in this matter.

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