Baghdad rejects reliability of Turkish troop's withdrawal

"The Turkish troops have not withdrawn at all."

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (K24) – Turkey announced that they have started to withdraw its troops in northern Iraq, but the Iraqi Federal government on Monday refused the allegations and claims that "it is not true."

On Sunday, Turkish Foreign Ministry announced that Turkey has started to withdraw its forces from northern Iraq and the Iraqi Foreign Minister, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, welcomed the decision and said that Iraq will keep following its complaint to the United Nations Security Council until Turkey "fully pulls its troops in Iraq."

Al-Jaafari said in a statement on Sunday that according to Turkish media, Turkey has pulled some of its troops in Iraq, and he called it as a right step in the right direction.

Previously, the President of the United States, Barack Obama, asked the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on a telephone call to withdraw its troops in northern Iraq.

Recently, Turkish Foreign Ministry announced that they have considered the sensitivity of Iraqis regarding the presence of Turkish troops inside the country; hence, Ankara has decided to pull its troops from Bashik town in northern Iraq.

Following the deployment of Turkish forces in Iraq, Shia groups have started to pressure the Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi to take strict legal actions against the Turkish troops.

On Monday, Sa'ad al-Hadithi, the Iraqi Prime Minister's spokesman stated that "the Turkish troops have not withdrawn at all.”

He also added that "The five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council [US, UK, Russia, France and China] have agreed that Baghdad has the right to take legal action against the deployment of the Turkish troops in Iraq."