December 9, 2015 | Quote

Turkey Is ‘Setting Up Cards’ For A Dangerous New Game With Russia — And The Winner Could Be ISIS

Turkey's decision to deploy a limited number of troops to a military base near the ISIS stronghold of Mosul, Iraq, last weekend was quickly condemned by leading Iraqi officials who called the incursion a violation of Iraqi sovereignty.

Iran-backed Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi led calls for Turkish troops to be withdrawn immediately, which were echoed by Iraq's main Shia political parties — some of whom called for Iraq to launch airstrikes on Turkish soil if Ankara did not comply.

Among Turkey's harshest critics was Russia, who called the move “illegal” and asked the UN Security Council to hold a meeting on Turkish military action in both Iraq and Syria on Tuesday.

Turkey and Russia are in the midst of a showdown over Turkey's decision to down a Russian warplane that allegedly violated its airspace two weeks ago. But that is only one reason why Russia's condemnation of the Turkish incursion into Iraq was to be expected.

Russia has been sharing “security and intelligence” information about the Islamic State (also known as ISIS or ISIL) with Iraq since September — when Russian, Syrian, and Iranian military advisers began building a coordination cell in Baghdad in an effort to bolster the Iranian-backed Shia militias fighting ISIS in northern Iraq.

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“The presence of the Turkish troops near Mosul certainly further complicates the situation between Russia and Turkey,” Boris Zilberman, a Russia expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Business Insider in an email.

“Not long ago there was buzz about Russia potentially deploying forces to Iraq. In light of current developments, the possibility of such a deployment may gain steam once again.”

He added: “If Turkey continues the deployment in Iraq, I would expect more bellicose language from Iraqi, Russian, and Iranian leaders. This only continues to raise the tensions and stakes in the regional conflict.”

Merve Tahiroglu, a Turkey expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, argued that Turkey was using the Peshmerga less as a counterweight to Iran than to its longtime enemy, the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is headquartered in northern Iraq.

“This could be Turkey’s way of showing the anti-IS coalition that it is helping the fight by working with the Kurds — just the group of Kurds it prefers,” Tahiroglu said in an email.

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Issues:

Kurds Russia Turkey