Posted on 10/02/2003 2:03:53 PM PDT by a_Turk
ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday he wanted parliament to decide "rapidly" whether to send Turkish peacekeeping troops to Iraq (news - web sites) to help Washington maintain security there.
In an apparent concession to its NATO (news - web sites) ally, the United States earlier agreed on joint action with Turkey against hundreds of Turkish Kurdish rebels holed up in northern Iraq, which could include military action.
"We want a decision from the assembly rapidly on sending the troops," Erdogan told the local news channel NTV.
The United States has made it clear in the past that it would be in charge of any military operations in Iraq and is wary of any Turkish involvement in action against Kurds there.
Washington has asked Ankara, a NATO ally, to send as many as 10,000 troops to Iraq, possibly to the largely Sunni regions around Baghdad, but Turkey has asked for firm U.S. steps against the Kurdish rebels ahead of any agreement to send troops.
Erdogan said Turkey could approve the deployment within 10 to 15 days as long as the government gives the green light for a parliamentary vote.
President Bush (news - web sites), facing rising casualties in Iraq and falling popularity at home, is seeking to persuade reluctant allies to share the security burden in Iraq.
Guerrillas killed three American soldiers in a wave of attacks on Wednesday, adding urgency to the request.
"It would be politically significant. The U.S. would be seen as enlisting a largely Muslim country to restore peace and order to a Muslim country," said Jonathan Stevenson at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.
Turkey, with the second largest standing army in NATO, has dragged its feet over committing troops amid widespread public opposition to the U.S.-led occupation and Washington's failure to secure United Nations (news - web sites) approval for the force.
But Ankara is determined to repair frail bilateral relations after parliament in March rejected a U.S. request to deploy around 60,000 U.S. soldiers along its southern border ahead of the invasion.
Some ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) deputies however have voiced objections to sending Turkish soldiers, fearing a backlash from voters. A cautious president would also need to ratify parliament's decision before the troops are deployed.
The AKP holds a large legislative majority in the assembly.
MILITARY ACTION
Erdogan spoke after U.S. and Turkish officials agreed in talks in Ankara on a joint action plan to deal with Turkish Kurdish militants in Iraq's north.
"We will seek to eliminate the threat of terrorism represented by PKK/Kadek... The way we eliminate terrorism is to use all elements, all statecraft," he said, adding that statecraft included military action.
While considering the U.S. request for troops, Turkey has demanded Washington take concrete steps to deal with the threat to its security it says is posed by hundreds of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels holed up in the mountains there.
Ankara has fought a decades-long war against the rebels in Turkey's southeast at the cost of more than 30,000 lives.
Another U.S. official told Reuters any unilateral military action by Turkey in northern Iraq could jeopardize an $8.5 billion loan deal for its frail economy penned in September.
Turkey's army says it reserves the right to act alone in northern Iraq if it deems Turkish national security is threatened.
The PKK called off a unilateral cease-fire on September 1, in place since the 1999 arrest and imprisonment of rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan.
Another U.S. official told Reuters any unilateral military action by Turkey in northern Iraq could jeopardize an $8.5 billion loan deal for its frail economy penned in September.
Turkey's army says it reserves the right to act alone in northern Iraq if it deems Turkish national security is threatened.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.