Abadi urges Ankara, Riyadh to avoid meddling in Iraq affairs

Iraqi Prime Minister Heidar al-Abadi has called on Turkey and Saudi Arabia to stop interfering in the domestic affairs of his country, which is engaged in a campaign against the Daesh terrorist group.

“We have well intentions for Saudi Arabia and Turkey provided that they do not interfere in the domestic affairs of our country,” he told a forum of Muslim scholars and politicians in Baghdad Saturday.

The opening of the 9th session of the Supreme Council of the World Assembly of Islamic Awakening in the Iraqi capital coincided with the country’s ongoing push to retake its second city of Mosul from Daesh terrorists.

Turkey is adamantly insisting that it wants to play a military role in the Mosul recapture despite Iraq’s opposition, triggering a serious diplomatic row between the two neighbors.

In the run-up to the Mosul operation, Saudi Arabia replaced its ambassador to Baghdad, who had repeatedly drawn the ire of Iraqi leaders for his meddling remarks, but the kingdom downgraded its ties to the charge d’affaires level.