Turkish soldiers training Iraqi troops near Mosul: sources

[muriel_volestrangler]

10. It's odd; last year they were also there training the peshmerga

and apparently about to train the Iraqi national army too:

World | Sat Nov 22, 2014 12:56pm EST Related: WORLD, IRAQ

Turkey trains Kurdish peshmerga forces in fight against Islamic State

Turkish soldiers are training Kurdish peshmerga fighters in northern Iraq and will give similar assistance to a new national army unit in Baghdad as part of the struggle against Islamic State, a senior Turkish official said on Saturday.

Turkish soldiers began special forces training with Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq three weeks ago, peshmerga spokesman Brigadier General Halgurd Hikmat said. The Turkish official said similar assistance would be given to Iraq's National Guard.

"Turkey has already started training peshmerga forces in northern Iraq ... and we have agreed to train and give assistance to the National Guard," the official said.
...
Abadi announced plans in September for a new National Guard unit intended to incorporate local fighters and deprive Islamic State of safe havens by allowing Iraq's provinces to be responsible for their own security.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-turkey-iraq-idUSKCN0J60B720141122

And given how much the Turkish government hates the Kurds inside Turkey, it seems strange they were apparently training Kurds just across the border.

Turkey vows to support Iraqi military, train police
By Associated Press 15/7/2015

Turkey's foreign minister says his country will continue to provide military assistance to back Iraq's fight against Islamic State militants.

At a joint news conference with visiting Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari on Tuesday, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu also said Turkey would meet an Iraqi request to train its police force.

The Turkish minister said, however, that Iraq's army was in need of restructuring.

Cavusoglu said Turkey had trained more than 1,600 Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga fighters as well as more than 1,500 guards in Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city.

"We have always stood by Iraq and its people in the fight against Daesh and will continue to do so," Cavusoglu said, using the Arabic acronym of the ISIS group.

http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/turkey/15072015

It's hard to work out who trusts whom, and who plays more than one side of a conflict when it suits them.