{"id":22595,"date":"2015-12-13T16:51:02","date_gmt":"2015-12-13T16:51:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kedisa.gr\/thousands-of-iraqis-protest-against-turkeys-troop-deployment-in-north\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T22:29:00","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T22:29:00","slug":"thousands-of-iraqis-protest-against-turkeys-troop-deployment-in-north","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kedisa.gr\/en\/thousands-of-iraqis-protest-against-turkeys-troop-deployment-in-north\/","title":{"rendered":"Thousands of Iraqis protest against Turkey\u2019s troop deployment in north"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>At least 4000 people joined in with the rally at Tahrir Square in Bagdad. They called on Ankara to immediately withdraw its forces from Iraq calling the actions of Turkish authorities \u201ca violation of Iraq\u2019s sovereignty\u201d and \u201coccupation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We consider any military presence on Iraqi land as foreign aggression which we should stand against using all possible means,&#8221; Hadi al-Amiri, a Shiite lawmaker, who also leads the armed Badr Organisation, said during the rally in Baghdad, as quoted by Reuters.<\/p>\n<p>Demonstrators also trampled on the Turkish flag and hit a caricature of the Turkey\u2019s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with slippers as a demonstration of disrespect, Reuters reported.<\/p>\n<p>At least 4000 people joined in with the rally at Tahrir Square in Bagdad. They called on Ankara to immediately withdraw its forces from Iraq calling the actions of Turkish authorities \u201ca violation of Iraq\u2019s sovereignty\u201d and \u201coccupation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We consider any military presence on Iraqi land as foreign aggression which we should stand against using all possible means,&#8221; Hadi al-Amiri, a Shiite lawmaker, who also leads the armed Badr Organisation, said during the rally in Baghdad, as quoted by Reuters.<\/p>\n<p>Demonstrators also trampled on the Turkish flag and hit a caricature of the Turkey\u2019s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with slippers as a demonstration of disrespect, Reuters reported.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" lang=\"en\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Iraq ultimatum for Turkish troops to leave nearly up, Russia to raise issue at UNSC <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/jMexl64Jsv\">https:\/\/t.co\/jMexl64Jsv<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/wzQnr9ZHTT\">pic.twitter.com\/wzQnr9ZHTT<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; RT (@RT_com) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RT_com\/status\/674332691051896832\">December 8, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Several thousands of Iraqis also gathered in the country\u2019s southern city of Basra. The demonstrators also reportedly burned the Turkish flag during the rally. Some Shiite militia members also joined the protests in the city, carrying banners reading \u201cDeath to Turkey. Death to Erdogan\u201d and threatening violence against Turkish soldiers unless Turkey\u2019s forces are withdrawn.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We are on high alert now awaiting orders from our commanders to set fire to the ground beneath the feet of Turkish soldiers,&#8221; Amjad Salim, a local commander of the Bard Organization in Basra told Reuters.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If Turkey thinks Iraq is busy with fighting Daesh [Islamic State] and it can seize the opportunity to deploy troops then it should think twice before making such a mistake,&#8221; said Abu Muntathar al-Moussawi, a local commander of another militia group called Asaib Ahl al-Haq.<\/p>\n<p>In the Iraq\u2019s south-eastern city of Nasiriyah demonstrators called on the country\u2019s Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and the Defense Minister Khaled al-Obaidi to take a \u201cfirm stance\u201d against Turkey\u2019s \u201caggression,\u201d Press TV reports.<\/p>\n<p>During a protest in the city of al-Diwaniyah in central Iraq, hundreds of people called on the government to expel the Turkish ambassador and break off relations with Ankara.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier on Saturday, al-Abadi once again condemned the deployment of Turkish troops to northern Iraq and stressed that Baghdad regards it not as an anti-terrorist action but as a violation of Iraq\u2019s sovereignty and territorial integrity.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" lang=\"en\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The Ottomans strike back &#8211; Turkey\u2019s race for control is metastasizing in Iraq (Op-Edge) <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/QFtkmZiLyV\">https:\/\/t.co\/QFtkmZiLyV<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/bI4lqpqUX9\">pic.twitter.com\/bI4lqpqUX9<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; RT (@RT_com) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RT_com\/status\/675648817102897153\">December 12, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Tensions between the two countries have increased dramatically since Turkey deployed about 150 soldiers backed by artillery and around 25 tanks to a base near the ISIS-controlled northern Iraqi city of Mosul on December 4.<\/p>\n<p>Turkey has consistently claimed the troops were deployed in order to train local Kurdish Peshmerga forces adding that the move complied with previous agreements between Ankara and Baghdad.<\/p>\n<p>Iraqi authorities regard the move a flagrant breach of the country\u2019s sovereignty and repeatedly call on Ankara to withdraw its forces. Baghdad issued an ultimatum demanding that Turkish troops leave its territory but Turkey refused to comply with it.<\/p>\n<p>Iraqi government also appealed to the UN Security Council about Turkish forces\u2019 presence seeking assistance in resolving the crisis.<\/p>\n<p>Erdogan said that Turkish forces withdrawal from Iraq is \u201cout of question\u201d and denounced the Iraqi appeal to the UNSC as \u201cnot honest.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rt.com\/news\/325751-thousands-protest-iraq-turkey\/\">www.rt.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At least 4000 people joined in with the rally at Tahrir Square in Bagdad. They&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1113],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kedisa.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kedisa.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kedisa.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kedisa.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kedisa.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22595"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kedisa.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22595\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22596,"href":"https:\/\/kedisa.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22595\/revisions\/22596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kedisa.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kedisa.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kedisa.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}