Posted on 03/21/2003 3:34:49 PM PST by kattracks
Turkey Moves 1,000 Soldiers Into N. IraqBy SUZAN FRASER .c The Associated Press
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - Turkey moved 1,000 soldiers into northern Iraq on Friday to beef up its forces there, a Turkish military official said. Turkey already maintains several thousand soldiers backed by a few dozen tanks in northern Iraq to chase Turkish Kurdish guerrillas. Turkey is also shifting some 5,000 soldiers to the border region, the military official said, speaking on customary condition of anonymity.
The Turkish foreign minister said Friday his nation was determined to send its troops over the border into northern Iraq to contain a possible refugee flow and prevent any attempt by Iraqi Kurds to break away from Iraq.
Abdullah Gul's remarks came despite strong opposition in Washington to any unilateral move by Turkey into northern Iraq. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said Friday: ``We don't see any need for any Turkish incursions into northern Iraq.''
But ``Turkish soldiers will go in,'' Gul told reporters on his return from a trip from Brussels.
Gul's statement came after Turkey agreed Friday to allow U.S. overflights for a war with Iraq, reversing an earlier decision to block Turkey's airspace because of a disagreement with the United States over a Turkish troop deployment.
Washington has warned that a Turkish incursion could lead to friendly fire incidents with U.S. forces. Iraqi Kurdish groups say the move could lead to clashes.
In Washington, a senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Turkey opened its airspace without any conditions attached, adding that the U.S. administration continued to discuss the issue of Turkish troops separately.
Turkey's Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul also said Turkish and U.S. officials would continue negotiations.
Turkey has frequently sent soldiers into northern Iraq to chase Kurdish rebels belonging to the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, which fought a 15-year battle for autonomy from Turkey.
Gul said Turkey wanted to prevent Iraq's breakup and to contain a possible refugee flow within Iraq's borders.
``Turkey's Iraq policy is ... Iraq's territorial integrity, that Iraq's resources are shared by the whole population ... that a refugee flow is contained within Iraq,'' Gul said.
``Turkey has no designs whatsoever on Iraq's territory. Turkey will take measures in line with these aims,'' he said.
Turkey fears that Iraq could fragment during a war, leading Iraqi Kurds to declare independence, which could encourage Turkish Kurdish rebels.
Turkey's parliament voted Thursday to allow the United States to use the airspace, a measure that would allow strike aircraft on carriers in the Mediterranean to fly more directly into Iraq.
The resolution passed by parliament would also allow Turkey to move its own forces into northern Iraq.
Your right it doesn't matter.
They still would be subject to the tyranny of the majority in a non federal democracy even if their population appraoched 50%.
How would you represent the Turkomen without federalizing the government along ethnic lines?
How would you protect them from the tyranny of the majority without giving them some form of strong, independent, governance within their ethnic enclave?
First, Iraq is not Turkey. There is deeply embedded ethnic hatred in Iraq which is not going to dissappear because Tommy Franks says it must.
Second, when Turkey faced this same dilema in the recent past the government simply imposed tyranny on the minority.
Last, with no personal resonsibility intended, the US is simply not going to allow the ethnic cleansing that was perpitrated by the Ottomans in the early 20th century and the current form of the Turkish government in the mid 20th century.
Don't
The Turks created their own dilema when they sided with the Germans in WWI and then compounded their problems when they attempted to cleanse the Kurds 30 years later.
They simply drove their vocal, Kurdish minority in Iraqi Kurdistan and now must face the consequences of their poor decisions.
The Turks would have been better served to attempt to meet the demands of their Kurdish minority when the Brits and the frogs forced them together after WWI.
Why don't you give them some of YOUR country?
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