Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar Abadi on Saturday renewed call on Turkey to withdraw troops from northern Iraq.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar Abadi on Saturday renewed call on Turkey to withdraw troops from northern Iraq.

Turkish troops are deployed in areas around Mosul, which remains under the control of ISIL (so-called Islamic State in Irarq and Levant) since the Takfiri group overran the Iraqi city in 2014. 

“This is a frank invitation to Turkey, our neighbor, to pull out its forces from Iraq,” Abadi said.

“We will deploy every effort permitted by our rights and international law to make them leave,” he added.

Turkey deployed nearly 150 soldiers in December 2015 to the Bashiqa base, where it is purportedly training an Iraqi militia force to fight ISIL, citing heightened security risks.

On Friday, Iraq rejected Turkey’s claims that its forces "illegally" deployed to the Arab country had come under ISIL attack.

Prime Minister Abadi also said over 60 percent of the air raids against ISIL terrorists across his country are carried out by Iraqi forces.

Speaking at a nationally-televised ceremony in Baghdad, Abadi said US-led forces have conducted just 40 percent of the sorties against the Takfiri insurgents.

He said, however, that his country remains in need of foreign military assistance only in the forms of air cover, training and armament, but not ground operations.