WASHINGTON, July 8 (UPI) -- The United States said Thursday the Iraqi government will decide whether Turkish and other foreign troops should stay in the country.
Turkey sent troops to the bordering areas of Iraq during the war last year to prevent Kurdish militias from taking over. Turkey fears a separate Kurdish entity in Iraq may encourage separatist tendencies in its own Kurdish enclave that borders Iraq.
Earlier Thursday, a senior Turkish general issued a statement saying it would not pull its troops from Iraq as long as Kurdish militias continue to be a threat.
Asked to comment on the situation, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said he did not have anything to say about the Turkish general's statement but after the transformation of sovereignty, all such decisions should be made by the Iraqis.
The United States, he said, does have a say in how to coordinate those decisions with the coalition forces.
"In terms of the presence of foreign forces in Iraq, it is a matter for the Iraqis to decide. How those military moves might or might not be coordinated with coalition forces is something we do have a piece of," said Boucher.
