In an interview with an interview with Al Jazeera, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said that Turkey could not count on support from Arab countries in the event of a military incursion into bordering Syria.
“Who will guarantee us, if we militarily intervene, that Arab countries will be defending and supporting this?” Davutoğlu asked, in response to what appeared to be veiled criticism of Turkey and the global coalition to counter the Islamic State (ISIS) in a question over who may stop Russia’s air bombardments in Syria.
Davutoğlu mentioned Bashiqa, a camp in northern Iraq which recently caused a crisis between Ankara and Baghdad after the Iraqi government asked Turkey to withdraw 150 troops it had deployed there last year in the hopes of training Iraqi militias to fight ISIS.
“We sent military trainers and some troops to defend them in order to liberate Mosul. We sent them to Bashiqa and the Arab League has condemned Turkey,” Davutoğlu complained, referring to an Arab League decision to condemn Turkey’s deployment of troops as an “assault” on Iraqi sovereignty on Dec. 24, 2015.