Presence of Turkish troops in northern Iraq angers Baghdad
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ZELKAN CAMP- Tucked behind Bashiqa Mountain in northern Iraq, some 500 Turkish troops stationed alongside a local militia say they are training and arming Iraqi fighters to help defeat the Islamic State group. But their presence has strained relations between Iraq and Turkey and further complicated plans to retake the militant-held city of Mosul.
Turkish heavy artillery sits along the base's outer perimeter. Past rows of blast-walls and barbed wire, dozens of trailers house some 1,000 men armed with assault rifles and outfitted with new body armor and boots.
"Everything you see here is thanks to Turkey, we didn't receive any single thing from the central government," said Iraqi Maj. Gen. Saadi Obeidi, the base's commander, sitting beside a Turkish captain to brief visiting journalists. Obeidi and the captain outlined the group's military achievements and boasted of occasionally receiving U.S.-led coalition air support.
