Any mistake in a planned U.S.-backed operation to drive Islamic State from the Iraqi city of Mosul could result in hundreds of thousands of refugees, Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said on Thursday.
Turkey is locked in an escalating row with Iraq over who should take part in the Mosul assault and Kalin voiced concern that Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants could be involved.
"Reports that the PKK may take part in the Mosul operation greatly worry us," he told a news conference, saying Turkey had no "secret agenda" in Iraq and favored solving problems with Baghdad through dialogue.
The PKK is designated a terrorist group by Ankara and its Western allies. It has fought a 32-year insurgency in Turkey, in which more than 40,000 people have been killed, and its leadership is based in the mountains of northern Iraq.
Mosul, home to up to 1.5 million people, has been at the heart of Islamic State's self-declared caliphate in Iraq since 2014. The battle for the city is seen beginning this month.
"A mistake made there could result in hundreds of thousands of people becoming refugees," Kalin said. "A mistake in the Mosul operation will not be limited to Iraq, it will impact the whole region."
Turkish soldiers have been training Sunni Muslim and Kurdish Peshmerga units at Iraq's Bashiqa camp and want them involved in the assault. Baghdad's Shi'ite-led government objects to their presence, wanting its forces at the forefront of the offensive.
The United States has said any foreign forces in Iraq should be there with the approval of the Baghdad government and under the umbrella of the U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State.
Turkey is part of the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State in Syria and has played a frontline role there. It says its troops are in Iraq as part of an international mission to train and equip Iraqi forces to fight Islamic State.
The Turkish army launched an incursion into Syria in August to push back Islamic State and prevent the U.S.-backed Kurdish YPG militia, which is PKK-linked, from seizing ground. Ankara is furious at U.S. support for what it sees as a hostile force.
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