Defense Secretary Ash Carter, in Ankara for talks with Turkish officials, said on Friday that a bitter dispute between Turkey and Iraq can be resolved, and that Turkish desires to play a role in the liberation of Mosul can be accommodated.
Carter spoke to reporters traveling with him after his meetings with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other Turkish officials, on the first leg of a seven-day trip to the Middle East and Europe.
“We and Turkey agree on the important principles here; the need to defeat ISIL, our opposition to terrorism in general, our respect for the sovereignty of Iraq, our respect also for Turkey’s historic role in the region, and therefore, the fact that it will appropriately have a role in the counter-ISIL campaign in both Syria and Iraq, and we’re working out what that is with them,” Carter said according an official Pentagon transcript.
Carter said was an “agreement in principle” for some kind of Turkish participation in the Mosul campaign, but that Iraq would have to sign off on any use of Turkish troops in the days-old offensive.
“That’ll obviously be something that the Iraqi government will need to agree to. And I think there’s agreement there in principle, but now we’re down to the practicalities of that,” Carter told reporters on his plane en route to Abu Dhabi.
“I’m pretty confident on the basis of all the conversations we’ve had that we’ll be able to work through those practicalities in a way that takes care of the sensitivities of all of the parties there,” Carter said.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi was incensed that Turkey deployed some 500 of its troops across its border into Iraqi territory north of Mosul and Turkey has refused to withdraw them despite repeated requests.
Before his plane landed in Turkey, Carter said he would urge Ankara to respect Iraq’s sovereignty just as the U.S.-led coalition does. “That’s an important principle of ours,” he said.
At the Pentagon, officials indicated that Carter’s effort was largely focused on facilitating discussions between the two feuding allies.
“These are two close friends of ours,” Carter said prior to his meetings Friday. “In the case of Turkey, it’s a NATO ally. And we want to keep everybody focused on the objective here, which is to defeat ISIL, because that is a threat to all three of us.”
It’s unclear what role the Turkish military might play, whether it might join the invading force, or be limited to providing logistical support or humanitarian assistance.
This week, Erdogan proclaimed Turkey has a “regional responsibility” to be involved in northern Iraq.
Turkey argues it has had ties to Mosul for centuries, and has a responsibility to protect the interests of the city’s Sunni majority and large ethnic Turkmen community from Baghdad’s Shiite-dominated central government.
“I think that Iraq understands that Turkey is a member of the counter-ISIL coalition, will play a role in counter-ISIL operations in Iraq. And secondly, that Turkey, since it neighbors the region of Mosul, has an interest in the ultimate outcome in Mosul,” Carter said. “Many other parties do as well It’s a complicated city. We all understand that. I think the Iraqi government understands that.”
In his one-day visit, Carter kept to a whirlwind schedule, meeting in separate sessions with Erdogan, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim and Defense Minister Fikri Isik.
