Turkey says it has currently stopped the deployment of troops to northern Iraq, warning, however, that it will not withdraw those soldiers already stationed in the Arab country.

Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Tanju Bilgic announced the development at a press conference in the Turkish capital, Ankara, on Tuesday.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu reiterated Ankara’s respect for Iraq’s territorial integrity during a Monday phone conversation with his Iraqi counterpart, Hoshyar Zebari, Bilgic stated.

On December 4, Turkey deployed some 150 soldiers, equipped with heavy weapons and backed by 20 to 25 tanks, to the outskirts of the city of Mosul, the capital of Iraq’s Nineveh Province.