LOC23:17
20:17 GMT
BAGHDAD, Dec 5 (KUNA) -- The Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs has summoned Turkey's ambassador in Baghdad Faruk Kaymakci on Saturday following the deployment of hundreds of Turkish troops in Nineveh governorate, north Iraq.
The Turkish ambassador was handed a protest note over the move that took place without knowledge of the central government of Iraq, spokesman of the Ministry Ahmad Jamal said in a press release.
"The Iraqi government considers the Turkish move a hostile act," Jamal said, urging the Turkish government to pull out its troops immediately.
Earlier in the day, Iraqi President Fuad Masum asked the Foreign Ministry to take the necessary legal measures against the deployment of the Turkish troops near Mosul city being controlled by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
"The Turkish incursion is an infringement on the national sovereignty of Iraq which runs counter to the international laws and our desire for neighborly ties, coexistence and non-interference in the domestic affairs of other nations," Masum said in a press release.
A similar statement by the Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar Al-Abadi's office deemed the Turkish move a serious breach of Iraq's sovereignty.
A total of 150 Turkish soldiers, backed by 20-25 tanks, have reportedly entered Nineveh to back the Kurdish Peshmerga forces who made remarkable victories in the battle against ISIL in the recent weeks, but Iraqi sources said the figure is far bigger. (end)
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