Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Friday accused Vice President of Iraq Nouri Al Maliki of making use of the current Turkish-Iraqi deadlock to instigate provocations.

In an interview with NTV channel, Cavusoglu said that such provocations fueled tension of the Iraqi government.

The deployed soldiers are not combat troops, but have been sent to protect soldiers providing training to Iraqi and Kurdish forces, Cavusoglu added.

On December 4, approximately 150 Turkish soldiers were deployed near Mosul to replace training forces already in the area. In addition, about 25 tanks were also deployed to the region.

Sources: MENA