Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday that Iraq could not deal alone with driving Islamic State from the city of Mosul and that the presence of Turkish forces in a nearby military camp was an insurance against attacks on Turkey.
Turkey has been locked in a fierce row with Iraq’s central government over the presence of Turkish troops at the Bashiqa camp in northern Iraq, and over who should take part in the planned U.S.-backed assault on Mosul.
Speaking at a ceremony in the Black Sea town of Rize, Erdogan said Turkey would not allow Islamic State or any other organization to control Mosul. He also said Turkish-backed rebels in neighboring Syria were advancing on the Islamic State-held village of Dabiq in the country’s northwest.
