SOCHI (Sputnik) — Ankara will benefit from the Mosul operation in case the city is not divided into sectarian areas after liberation, Yasar Yakis, Turkey's former minister of foreign affairs, told Sputnik on the sidelines of the Valdai Discussion Club in Sochi.
"Benefits for Ankara from Mosul operation will depend on what will be done in Mosul after ISIS [Daesh] is cleared from there, whether it will be divided into six small pockets according to ethnic and confessional and sectarian divides. Because there are Turkmens there, but 60 percent of them are Shia, 40 percent of Turkmens are Sunni, then there are also Kurds, non-Muslims, and Arabs. So if six cantons are to be established there, then do we sow the seeds of the new conflict? Because it will not be a monolith composition… We should not create new problems," Yakis said.
He said that getting rid of sectarianism in this issues would be best for Turkey.
"If Turkey can secure this and prevent Shia militants from entering the center of the city, which is inhabited by Sunnis, this would be the best gain for Turkey," Yakis said.
Turkey has repeatedly said it is willing to take part in the operation, though Iraq has raised objections.
