ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Turkey will remain in its Bashiqa base in Northern Iraq as long as it "is needed there", the Turkish Deputy Prime Minister said on Wednesday. "Turkey's presence in Bashiqa is legitimate. We will continue our presence there as long as Turkey is needed there," Numan Kurtulmus told Anadolu news. Kurtulmus's comment comes a day after an intense war of words between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi over the Turkish deployment in which Erdogan told Abadi to "know his limits." "Iraq had certain requests from us regarding Bashiqa, and now they are telling us to leave," Erdogan said, "But the Turkish army has not lost so much standing as to take orders from you." Abadi's spokesman, Saad al-Hadithi, responded by saying that Erdogan's remarks are "irresponsible" and charged that, "Turkey does not respect the mutual interests of both neighbouring nations." "This could lead to a security threat in the Kurdistan Region, Iraq and the wider region in general," al-Haythi added. Kurtulmus also said that the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) should not be allowed participate in the Mosul operation Turkey has made the same kind of statements in relation to ISIS-occupied Raqqa in Syria in recent weeks. Also on Tuesday Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu warned the US not to support the YPG in the fight against ISIS, in response to US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's suggestion that she would arm the group if she becomes the next President of the United States. If the US did so, Cavusoglu declared, then it would become "a country that cooperates with terrorists and works with terrorists," as well "Let me caution them," he said, "We are speaking to a friend."
