Posted on 07/05/2003 4:14:35 AM PDT by yankeedame
05 Jul 2003 09:34:15 GMT
Turkey says U.S. detains its troops in Iraq
By Ayla Yackley
ANKARA, July 5 (Reuters) - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday that U.S. troops had detained Turkish special forces in northern Iraq in what he called an "ugly incident", and demanded their immediate release.
A government source said 11 or more Turkish soldiers stationed in northern Iraq had been held by U.S. forces on Friday afternoon. Ankara had made "forceful representations" to Washington.
"Our foreign minister has spoken with the U.S. secretary of state...We demanded their immediate release, they said they are safe," Erdogan said.
"They are talking about an event with the municipality in Kirkuk. There is nothing about this that could be approved of or looked upon positively. It's a totally ugly incident, it's something that shouldn't have happened .
Hurriyet newspaper said the Turkish soldiers were accused of planning an attack on a regional Kurdish governor. Government sources were unable to confirm this detail.
The paper said around 100 U.S. troops on Friday moved on barracks used by Turkish soldiers in Sulaymaniyah, Iraq, and transferred the Turkish officers to the city of Kirkuk.
"We cannot understand the Americans' aims," deputy armed forces chief Yasar Buyukanit was quoted as saying. "This action by our ally of 50 years has deeply saddened and shaken us."
U.S. officials in Ankara said they had no details of such an incident.
Turkey has long expressed fears that Kurds in northern Iraq might try to create an independent state. Ankara fears this could reignite a separatist rebellion in its largely Kurdish southeast that resulted in some 30,000 deaths in the 1980s and 1990s.
Relations between Washington and Ankara soured before the U.S.-led war on Iraq when Turkey's parliament refused to allow U.S. forces to stage attacks on its neighbour from Turkish soil.
A few thousand Turkish troops remain inside northern Iraq in pursuit of Turkish Kurdish guerrillas who waged a separatist campaign in the 1980s and 1990s in southeastern Turkey.
U.S.-backed Kurdish leaders who have run the region since the end of the 1991 Gulf war have urged Turkey to withdraw its troops from the enclave in a bid to stabilise the region.
Hmmmmm--Turkey detained THOUSANDS of American troops for quite a while when the Turks were dithering about letting the 4th Division pass through to Iraq.
Our detaining a far smaller number for a much shorter time sounds quite fair to me!
We'd best help figure out a solution to the "Kurdistan" issue, or it's going to get ugly. Seems that we have temporarily, at least, chosen sides: we obviously won't tolerate the Turks bumping off Kurdish administrators / leaders in the north while we're trying to bring stability to Iraq. Turkey had best take heed, back off, and handle this through diplomatic channels with the U.S. Trying to reach around us and slap the Kurd behind us is bad form.
One theory is that the Turks were planning some "false flag" military actions to make it look like the Kurds were out of control & give the Turks an excuse to come over the border. The amount of weaponsry suppports that theory more so than that they were just gathering intell.
The Turks were great allies for a long time; hopefully all this stuff blows over pretty quick.
It's news to me too but doesn't surprise me. Kirkuk isn't even close to the Turkey/Iraq border so they're operating well within the country. After that little stunt they pulled at the beginning of the war, they don't belong there now. If they're trying to undo our successes then by all means detain them and kick their tails outta there.
As for the Kurds, why shouldn't they have their own country?
The population of Kirkuk has a majority of ethnic Turkmen
(over 60% of the educated class)
and Turkey is very concerned about their fate
as the Kurds are flooding in
and trying to dispossess them.
Well, as Donald Rumsfeld would say ... "That's unhelpful."
Turkey is no longer an ally in my view. Not with this crap. Sowing discord there, right now, is a blatant sabotauge and duplicity. No money for Turks going forward. None. We can fly our gear into Baghdad direct now.
They can count down their next earthquake without us.
The Korean War was a long time ago. They've changed.
Americans sent $millions both through our Government and the Red Cross when they were devestated. Screw them.
On a redundant note .... our boys are on the job and working with a professional excellence over there. They should make all of us proud and secure.
Because Turkey has soverign claim over thier land, and Iraq has soverign claim over their land. All land is owned by someone already. Now is not the time for that issue, and that issue will not be permitted to escalate at this time.
The Kurds have a guaranteed representation, economic equality and full rights as citizens involved in the governance of Iraq. That's a better deal for them.
The Kurd nation will have to wait for now.
POT ROAST CLAIMS CARROTS HAVE BEEN OVER-RUN BY POTATOS, GRAVY CAME FROM A JAR
In all seriousnes, though, if we did not support their opposition to the war, we should not be surprised that they opposed our support.
This sounds like a minor goof; I suspect we'll release their troops, issue a pro forma apology, and be done with it.
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