TRT World - World in Focus: The Week In Turkey

Relations between Ankara and Moscow have been sour ever since Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet last month for violating its airspace. And this week was hardly any better. The two disagreed over Turkish soldiers stationed in Iraq, and then the week closed out with an incident in the Aegean involving the Russian navy and a Turkish fishing vessel.The week began with the government in Iraq calling for Turkey to withdraw its troops in the town of Bashiqa in Mosul. They’ve been stationed there for nearly a year. And Russia wants them out, too. Iraq calls for the withdrawal of Turkish troops The Iraqi Prime Minister, Haider al Abadi (hi-dar al a-ba di) called NATO’s General Secretary, Jens Stoltenberg. He demanded that the Turkish soldiers retreat. He called their presence a violation of Iraqi sovereignty. In response, the Turkish Prime Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu said that Ankara had ‘no intention of harming’ Iraq’s territorial integrity. Military camp set up in co-ordination with Iraq Davutoglu said the Turkish military camp is there to train Kurdish peshmergas fighting against Daesh. The leader of the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq, Masoud Barzani, also confirmed that the Turkish forces were in Iraq because of a deal between Turkey and Iraq. Barzani visits Erdogan in Ankara A day after his statement, Barzani made an official visit to Turkey’s capital Ankara. Local press reported that the timing was important as tensions continue to rise between Barzani, Turkey and Baghdad. Barzani had a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. [Re jeep Tie-eep Err -doa-un ]The meeting lasted more than an hour, behind closed doors. Turkish soldiers will stay Erdogan then announced that despite the Iraqi government’s calls. the Turkish soldiers will stay in Mosul to train their Iraqi counterparts to fight against Daesh. But the Iraqi government insisted. The prime minister said “the solution to the Iraq-Turkey crisis could only be solved through a ‘full withdrawal of Turkish troops from Iraqi territory.’” Iraq then took its appeal to the United Nations Security Council, demanding that Turkey withdraw its soldiers. Russia endorsed Baghdad's decision. The Turkish president criticised Baghdad’s action, saying it wasn’t an honest one. Turkey tried to diffuse the situation by sending a high-l evel team to Baghdad. Feridun Sinirlioglu, the undersecretary of the Turkish Foreign Ministry. and Hakan Fidan, the head of Turkish intelligence, held meetings with Iraqi prime minister Haider al Abadi The Turkish Prime Minister’s office released a written statement after the meetings. It said: “During the meetings it’s been clearly stated that Turkey respects the territorial integrity and the sovereignty of Iraq. Turkey also confirmed that it is determined to continue to support Iraqi government in the fight against Daesh” Russian destroyer crisis in the Aegean Sea And the week ended the way it started, with another crisis with Russia. On Sunday, Moscow said its destroyer fired warning shots at a Turkish fishing boat in the Aegean Sea.The Russian Defence Ministry says that the aim was to prevent a collision. But the owner of the Turkish vessel denies the Russian version of what happened. He says the two vessels were far apart, and he thought the ship belonged to NATO. He says he never heard and warning shots. Following the incident, Russia summoned Turkey’s military attache in Moscow. Summoned The Turkish Foreign Minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu responded by saying “we are always saying: ‘We are not in favour of tension’. We are in favour of overcoming tension through dialogue.” But clearly. more dialogue is still needed. Because right now, things remain quite tense. Facebook:   / trtworld   Twitter:   / trtworld   Youtube:    / trtworld   GooglePlus: https://plus.google.com/+trtworld