Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday, October 15 that Iraq could not deal alone with driving Islamic State from the city of Mosul and that the presence of Turkish forces in a nearby military camp was an insurance against attacks on Turkey, Reuters reports.

Turkey has been locked in a fierce row with Iraq's central government over the presence of Turkish troops at the Bashiqa camp in northern Iraq, and over who should take part in the planned U.S.-backed assault on Mosul.

Speaking at a ceremony in the Black Sea town of Rize, Erdogan said Turkey would not allow Islamic State or any other organization to control Mosul. He also said Turkish-backed rebels in neighboring Syria were advancing on the Islamic State-held village of Dabiq in the country's northwest.