U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said he would stress the need to respect Iraq's sovereignty during a visit on Oct. 21 to Turkey, which has been locked in a dispute with Baghdad over who should participate in the campaign to retake Mosul from Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
Carter, acknowledging it was a delicate issue, declined to explicitly say whether he thought Turkey should be allowed to participate in the operations in Iraq. Washington in the past has deferred that matter to Baghdad.
"Of course we'll talk about that. And yes, of course there are sensitivities there. We conduct ourselves, and the coalition does, respecting Iraqi sovereignty. That's an important principle of ours," Carter said.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been frustrated that NATO member Turkey has not been more involved in the U.S.-backed assault on Mosul and angered by Washington's support for Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Unit (YPG), the military wing of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), battling ISIL in Syria.
Asked about Turkish air strikes that pounded a group of YPG fighters allied to a U.S.-backed militia in northern Syria, Carter said he was not certain about what precisely transpired.
"I can’t clarify that now," he said...
[hurriyetdailynews.com]
21/10/16
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Carter, acknowledging it was a delicate issue, declined to explicitly say whether he thought Turkey should be allowed to participate in the operations in Iraq. Washington in the past has deferred that matter to Baghdad.
"Of course we'll talk about that. And yes, of course there are sensitivities there. We conduct ourselves, and the coalition does, respecting Iraqi sovereignty. That's an important principle of ours," Carter said.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been frustrated that NATO member Turkey has not been more involved in the U.S.-backed assault on Mosul and angered by Washington's support for Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Unit (YPG), the military wing of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), battling ISIL in Syria.
Asked about Turkish air strikes that pounded a group of YPG fighters allied to a U.S.-backed militia in northern Syria, Carter said he was not certain about what precisely transpired.
"I can’t clarify that now," he said...
[hurriyetdailynews.com]
21/10/16
-
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