Posted on 03/04/2003 7:36:28 AM PST by Happy2BMe
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Top Turkish general fears Kurds will be new U.S. ally vs. Iraq |
ANKARA — Turkey's military has quietly warned the government that the Kurds south of Turkey in northern Iraq will emerge as the primary U.S. ally unless Ankara and Washington cooperate in the expected war against the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein.
Turkish Chief of Staff Gen. Hilmi Ozkok briefed Prime Minister Abdullah Gul on the military's assessment of the expected war against Iraq. The briefing came in wake of parliament's rejection of the government request for U.S. troops in Turkey on Saturday and the subsequent refusal by Ankara's military to allow U.S. officers to cross the border into Iraq.
Kurdish forces have warned that they will treat Turkish troops crossing the border into Iraq as the enemy. The warning has alarmed Turkish military leaders, who have asked the Bush administration to intervene, Middle East Newsline reported.
"There is no reason anymore for Washington to consider Turkey's interests in northern Iraq," a Turkish military source said. "If the United States acts alone in northern Iraq, then the Kurds will be the main military ally of Washington."
[On Monday, parliamentary speaker Bulent Arinc ruled out the reintroduction of the government request for up to 62,000 U.S. troops. "The motion regarding the dispatch of Turkish soldiers abroad and deployment of foreign armed forces in Turkey should not be submitted to parliament again in the same way," Arinc said.]
Ozkok was said to have warned Gul that parliament's rejection of the U.S. military presence would threaten the prospect of cooperation between Ankara and Washington regarding the future of Iraq. The general asserted on Sunday that without a U.S. military umbrella Turkish troops in northern Iraq would be under threat from Kurdish forces.
"If Turkish troops enter the northern Iraq, this would cost Turkey," Ozkok was quoted as saying. "It wouldn't be appropriate for the TSK [Turkish military] to enter the northern Iraq under these conditions as it didn't get enough support from the United States."
[In Washington, the Bush administration acknowledged that Turkey's rejection of U.S. troops could be final. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said the administration would reassess U.S. war plans as well as relations with Ankara. "Turkey is reviewing its options," Fleischer said on Monday.
"The United States is reviewing its options. And I think it's impossible to make any judgments beyond that at this time."]
Western intelligence sources said Turkey has deployed a division, or about 20,000 troops, in northern Iraq. They said Turkey had planned to deploy up to 80,000 troops in northern Iraq during the war against Baghdad.
Turkish military sources said parliament's rejection of a U.S. troop deployment in Turkey has torpedoed a draft memorandum of understanding with Washington on the conduct of the war in Iraq. Under the MoU, Ankara would be allowed to deploy tens of thousands of troops in northern Iraq under Turkish military command as well as receive billions of dollars in U.S. aid.
The military sources said the Gul government has been told that Washington does not plan to wait for a Turkish reversal of the parliamentary decision. They said the U.S. Defense Department has prepared plans to divert at least two divisions to Kuwait and airlift special operations forces from the Mediterranean over Israel and Jordan and directly to northern Iraq.
"The greatest nightmare would come to be true if the United States goes ahead without Turkey and wins the war against Iraq," Turkish analyst Ali Nihat Ozcan said. "In this case, it will have no responsibility to ask Turkey's opinion on how to restructure Iraq."
That's right. And the die is already cast.
Turkey would have been great to have as an ally. Too bad they chose the other side.
Well, duh. You make your bed with the islamic interests, you can sleep with your islamic interests. You can watch your stock market take a one day hit of 14%. You can kiss goodbye the good graces of world opinion.
As Clint Eastwood would have said to the Turkish Parliament, prior to the vote of rejection:
"Go ahead PUNK, make my day."
Turkey prepares to stake claim in Iraq's oil fields - (It's the oil, stupid.)
Turkey has committed political, strategic, and military suicide. They led us on for over a month into believing we could deploy through their country. We had thousands of troops (real live people, ya know - Americans at that), thousands of tons of military hardware), and billions of dollars committed to it.
Their blunders could cost American lives - people who might even be from your home town.
They forfeited billions of U.S. dollars in aid in hopes of making land grabs before the dust settles from the pending war.
They even deployed tens of thousands of Turkish troops in southern Turkey to intentionally outnumber any American force there - why?
And now, they want US to hold back the KURD!??
Polls show as much as 94 percent of the Muslim-dominated Turkish public opposes a war with Iraq.
Turkey's paliment dealt a stunning blow to U.S. war planning Saturday by voting against a bill allowing in American combat troops to open a northern front against Iraq. Before the vote, 50,000 Turks staged an anti-war rally near parliment as 4,000 police stood guard.
They chanted "No to War" and "We dont want to be America's soldiers." Some carried banners that read: The people will stop this war." Hundreds of Turks celebrated in the streets of central Ankara, shouting anti-U.S. slogans.
"We are all Iraqis . . We ill not kill, we will not die," they chanted. They also accused the Islamic-rooted Justice party of "collaborating with Washinton.
Washington had been so sure of winning approval from close ally and NATO member Turkey, that ships carrying U.S. tanks are waiting off Turkeys' coast for deployment and the U.S. military has thousands of tons of military equipment ready to unload at the southern Turksih port of Iskenderun.
For weeks, the Bush administration had been pressing Turkey to agree to a possible northern front, which would split Saddam Hussein's army between the north and the south, likely making a war shorter and less bloody.
The motion would have empowered Turkey's gobernment to authorize the basing of up to 62,000 troops, 255 warplanes, and 65 helicopters. In exchange, Washington promised $15 billion in loans and grants to cushion the Turkish economy from impact of war.
Turkey eyes northern Iraqi oil
Turkey prepares to stake claim in Iraq's oil fields
Turkey eyes Iraqi oil fields in midst of war rumbling.
Iraqi oil fields will be prime target.
Kurdish army will try to capture nearby oil-rich areas in case of war.
Justice Looms for Saddam, Cronies
An ‘Iraq winter’ haunts Turkey
Iraqi Kurds Eye Oil Revenue Dreams
Turkey weighs economic, political costs of a Gulf war
Turkey points its N. Iraq military deployment at… the Kurds
U.S. Envoy: Turkish Troops Would Be Under Coalition Command if They Go Into Iraq
Turkey also wants U.S. troops to take over the Kirkuk and Mosul oil fields.
Turkey and Iran eye post-Saddam Iraq as fog of war thickens
An invitation to mayhem Potential for Turk-Kurd conflict after Saddam
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