Arab League Denounces Turkish Troop Deployment in Iraq

Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi condemned on Thursday a Turkish military deployment in Iraq as a violation of international law, at a meeting called by Baghdad to pressure Ankara on withdrawing the forces.

"The Turkish military incursion into Iraq is a clear violation of international law and Iraqi sovereignty," Arabi said at the start of the foreign ministers meeting in the Cairo headquarters of the pan-Arab bloc.

Turkey announced on Saturday that it had begun withdrawing troops in a bid to de-escalate a bitter row with Baghdad and following a call from US President Barack Obama.

But at the Cairo meeting, Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said Turkey has insisted on "using the term 'redeployment'".

"They (the troops) would be relocated from one Iraqi area to another Iraqi area. Sovereignty is sovereignty, and the territories are one," he said.

Earlier this month, Turkey deployed troops to a base in Nineveh province where it has a long-running training program for forces battling the Islamic State jihadist group.

Ankara had said the deployment was routine and necessary to protect the trainers, while Baghdad said it was unauthorized and protested to the United Nations Security Council.