| Submit your comments on this article |
| Iraq |
| Turkey Negotiates With U.S. on Iraq Troops |
| 2003-09-05 |
| U.S. and Turkish officials began discussions Thursday on whether thousands of this nation’s soldiers might be deployed to aid American troops in Iraq, with Turkey reportedly raising several conditions it wants met before joining the effort to pacify its southern neighbor. The talks, which bring together senior military officials and diplomats in Ankara, follow Turkey’s offer in late March to send an unspecified number of soldiers to help police Iraq. The gesture was aimed at patching up relations with the United States, which were soured when parliament voted on March 1 to deny U.S. troops permission to use Turkey as a launching pad for a second front against Iraq. Turkey is demanding that any forces deployed in Iraq to help the U.S. mission be placed under Turkish command. The U.S. military has sought to keep foreign troops in Iraq under its own command. In advance of Thursday’s talks, Turkish officials also had called on U.S. forces to move against Turkish Kurd guerrillas based in northern Iraq, which the Americans have indicated they are willing to do. Oh really? Turkey has faced a long rebellion by those militants, but the U.S. found Iraq’s Kurdish population to be a key ally in the war against Saddam Hussein’s regime during the spring. Early this year, U.S. officials criticized the influential Turkish military, saying it had failed to push for the use of Turkish territory by American forces during the war. Hey, we don’t really mean it when we say we want democracy in a Muslim country, a little bit anti-democracy on behalves of the states is preferable! But Washington has since toned down its remarks and has been eager to see troops from this predominantly Muslim country deployed in Iraq, whose population is also overwhelmingly Muslim. As U.S. casualties have mounted in recent weeks, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has expressed hesitation about aiding the American effort, declaring that "Turkish forces will not be permitted to sink in any quagmire in Iraq." He has stressed that parliament, where his conservative Justice and Development Party enjoys an absolute majority, will need to authorize any deployment. Recent opinion polls indicate that a majority of Turks oppose sending their nation’s forces. Further signaling the government’s hesitations, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul has said that parliament is more likely to vote in favor of a troop bill if United Nations approval is secured for an international peacekeeping force in Iraq. But Turkish leaders have refrained so far from setting that as a condition for their troops’ participation. Thursday’s meeting was largely spent with U.S. negotiators providing answers to a list of questions that Turkey raised early last month. The queries include the number of Turkish troops needed, where they would be deployed, what their command structure and responsibilities would be and how they would interface with the U.S. military. Both sides declined to comment on details of the U.S. response, though Turkish media reports said Washington is seeking as many as 10,000 soldiers to be deployed in the predominantly Sunni Muslim region west of Baghdad. A U.S. Embassy official called Thursday’s talks "very positive." He said they were "part of a process of consultation that will continue" but declined to specify when. A senior Turkish official said negotiations probably would resume early next week, when another U.S. military delegation is expected in Ankara. That group will focus on measures to dislodge 5,000 Turkish Kurd guerrillas based in the rugged mountains separating Iraq from Iran. U.S. officials Wednesday renewed pledges to drive the rebels from Iraqi territory. "The U.S. is committed to eliminate any terrorist haven in a free Iraq," said a U.S. Embassy spokesman in Ankara. The guerrilla group, formerly known as the Kurdistan Workers Party and now called KADEK, waged a 15-year insurgency against Turkey from bases in northern Iraq’s Kurdish-controlled enclave. The rebels called a unilateral truce in 1999 after the capture of their leader, Abdullah Ocalan. But KADEK’s leaders threatened on Monday to resume the group’s armed campaign unless Turkey signs a peace agreement with them by Dec. 1. The rebels also have vowed to strike back if attacked by U.S. forces. Turkey has ruled out talking to the rebels, labeling them "terrorists." Some Iraqi groups also passionately oppose the presence of Turkish troops in their country. Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told Al Jazeera television that troops from Iraq’s neighbors would add to instability in his country. Zebari, an ethnic Kurd, pointed to past Turkish military intervention in Kurdish-controlled areas for examples of problems that would probably emerge if large numbers of Turkish troops were deployed in Iraq. "We hope such interventions will not take place, because they would further complicate matters," he said. |
| Posted by:Murat |
| #7 Wow, there's something that blew past that Murat didn't see. The Great Hegemon, the Policeman of the World, The masters behind the puppets of the goveernment of Turkey, the United States... .... turned the ships bearing the equipment of the 4th ID around and went the long way around to get into the fight. Hell, THIS is how an EMPIRE is run? No wonder that the Belgans, Germans and French (past masters and Empire holders themselves), snicker at our ineptitude. Meanwhile, TURKISH Special Forces and army units barge their way into Iraq, with no permission whatsoever. Did they happen to have civilian approval and a parliamentary vote to do so? Murat, things would be a lot easier on you if you didn't (in effect) jump up and down and demand, "DON'T LOOK AT THOSE FACTS! IGNORE THEM! LOOK AT MINE, AND MINE ALONE!" Pfft. Do you honestly think Rantburgers are the kinds of people who will obey, much less listen to, anyone who demands that what they know be ignored? Our intelligence agencies ignored some facts and 9/11 happens. F*ck doing THAT again. |
| Posted by: Ptah 2003-9-5 4:48:11 PM |
| #6 I thought the idea of additional troops was to help stabilize the situation in Iraq. A Turkish military presence is not likely to help with that. If they are going in, send them way down south, away from the Kurdish area. |
| Posted by: sludj 2003-9-5 4:22:28 PM |
| #5 There was a lot of talk going around right after 9/11 about giving the Middle East back to Turkey. Turkey could have taken over Iraqi duty (after the US kicked out Saddam) and watched the area as part of the UN Trusteeship Program while profiting from the oil. But Turkey had dillusions that the French/German axis would allow them to join Europe. Now, after the betrayal in preventing US troops to open up a Northern Front as they'd agreed, I'd rather see the Turks stay out of Iraq. I think most of the Bush Administration probably agrees. |
| Posted by: Yank 2003-9-5 2:57:15 PM |
| #4 "As U.S. casualties have mounted in recent weeks, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has expressed hesitation about aiding the American effort" Hey Murat you really need to get around, like Instapundit - According to this week's story from Scripps Howard News Service, there are 140,000 troops in Iraq, and there have been 286 fatalities from all causes since the war began in March (about 24 weeks ago). That gives us an annualized death rate of 443 per 100,000. Only about half of these deaths (147) were in combat, for a combat death rate of 228 per 100,000. According to Center for Disease Control / National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, there were 21,836 young black men (age 18-30) in Washington DC in 2000, the latest year that mortality data is available. The total number of deaths in this group from all causes was 132, with 95 homicides. i.e. the death rate for this group was 604 per 100,000 and the murder rate was 435 per 100,000. In other words, a young black male soldier from Washington DC would have been 36% more likely to die by staying at home than by serving in active duty in the Iraq war, and almost twice as likely to be murdered at home than to be killed in combat. Yes, that's horribly sad, but it puts a few things in perspective. |
| Posted by: Don 2003-9-5 9:42:30 AM |
| #3 Turkey is a shithole. I was stationed there for way to long. Nothing but poverty and destitution. Oh, wait, they are still a Muslim country. That's about normal. Then they wonder why the EU doesn't want them to let them join the club?! What a joke. Idiots like Murat are typical of the population. Well, unless you are there spending some money to support their hopeless economy...then they love you. Until you turn your back. We should arm the Kurds. They'd kick the Turks ass with a little help from us. |
| Posted by: Swiggles 2003-9-5 9:32:11 AM |
| #2 "As U.S. casualties have mounted in recent weeks, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has expressed hesitation about aiding the American effort, declaring that "Turkish forces will not be permitted to sink in any quagmire in Iraq."" Today's Turks just don't have the stomach for doing the tough jobs. We don't need "Summer Soldiers" for Iraq. Americans are willing to help Iraq, the real question is who else is. But at a time when American troops have time for: "U.S. troops have spent more than $15 million in Nineveh province, rebuilding, renovating or refurbishing hundreds of clinics, hospitals, schools, and a music hall; getting water running, digging wells in dried up villages, fixing roads and installing a 911 emergency medical telephone line. They’ve even set up Internet cafes and sponsored 160 soccer teams ahead of the start of the new season this month."… I have to wonder what all the UN maneuverings about more countries sending troops to Iraq is REALLY all about. |
| Posted by: Dave 2003-9-5 8:57:39 AM |
| #1 Listen Murat...I say it only once...Islam and Democracy are mutually exclusive...therefore, Islam will have to go bye-bye... |
| Posted by: Steve D. 2003-9-5 8:40:21 AM |