Concerns arise over possible sectarian conflict in Iraq

ANKARA (AA) - As military operations to retake the country's northern city of Mosul from Daesh began earlier this week, some have voiced concern for the possible consequence of a sectarian conflict in the region.

They have voiced warnings against the direct involvement of Shia militias in liberating the city following allegations that such groups have committed atrocities against the Sunni population in other parts of Iraq.

"There is the risk of an internal conflict between Peshmerga forces and Hashd al-Shaabi [Shia militia] after Daesh has been completely removed from Iraq," says Iraq's former Chief of the General Staff Babekir Zebari.

"The weakest links in Iraq are Sunni Arabs and Turkmens," added Abdul-Nasir al-Mahdawi, the former governor of Iraq's Diyala province.

"Kurds get international support and the Shia are in power; Turkmens have no power protecting them It is quite normal that Turkey care about them," he said.

Mahdawi suggested that Iraq and Turkey cooperate to ensure that none of the ethnic groups in the region are targeted.

Turkey's role in the operation has created tension between Ankara and Baghdad, which had asked for Turkish assistance following the fall of Mosul to Daesh in June 2014.

Since then, Turkish forces have trained thousands of Iraqi and Peshmerga fighters at a camp in Bashiqa, northeast of Mosul.

But Baghdad recently began to complain about the presence of Turkish troops and last month a diplomatic spat erupted around the issue.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly stressed that Turkish forces would remain in Bashiqa.

Erdogan pointed to Turkey’s concerns over the interests of Mosul’s Sunni Arab and Turkmen population.

Turkish-Arab Dialogue Platform Secretary-General and advisor of Abdullah Gul, former Turkish president, Ersat Hurmuzlu also argued that Turkey did not play with sectarianism in the region.

"There are Sunni and Shia Turkmens in Tal Afar [district in Nineveh Province of northwestern Iraq]," he said, and quoted Erdogan as having said: "Tal Afar belongs to the people there."

Hurmuzlu stressed that Iraq's territorial integrity was significant for Turkey.

Iraqi Turkmen Front head Ershad Salihi also pointed to the presence of citizens in Mosul from various religions and ethnicities.

Underlining the "sensitivity" of the issue, Salihi said: "We hope nothing bad happens in Mosul, from which Daesh would benefit."

"Those who pushed Daesh in the region are the powers who want to see Iraq divided, Muslims driven to a sectarian conflict, and a collapse of the regional economy," he claimed.

Earlier this week, Iraqi forces, backed by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes, launched a much-anticipated offensive to retake Mosul -- Daesh’s last stronghold in northern Iraq, which was overrun by Daesh in mid-2014.

*Humeyra Atilgan Buyukovali contributed to this story from Istanbul.