
RIA News quotes a statement by Turkish President Erdogan:
In 2014, the Iraqi Prime Minister visited us and asked for help in training the military and police. Our military went to Iraq as instructors, their functions are limited to training. The number of instructors may vary depending on the number of students. Now we are not talking about withdrawing our military from Iraq.
Erdogan’s manic desire to “train the Kurdish militia” of Iraq, despite the protests of the Iraqi authorities, is difficult to explain, especially considering that the same Kurds in Syria are Turkish aviation bombed a few weeks ago, and that against the same Kurds on the territory of Turkey itself a real military operation is being carried out with the involvement of special forces and armored vehicles.
In principle, no one expected Erdogan to admit that his units in Iraq control the routes of transportation of stolen oil, hiding behind statements about support for the Kurds in their fight against DAISH (ISIL).