Bloomberg quotes Rafik Hariri Center Nonresident Senior Fellow Aaron Stein on Turkey backtracking on its plan to deploy additional troops into Iraq:
“This latest deployment increases Turkey’s presence and, without question, will be viewed as part of a larger project to annex Iraqi territory,” Aaron Stein, a non-resident fellow at the Washington-based Atlantic Council, said by e-mail on Sunday before Turkey’s promise not to send further troops. “For many, this will be viewed as an attempt to break up the Iraqi state.”