ank News Feb 26, 2003 www.aljazeerah.info

Al-Jazeerah, News

ANKARA: Turkey said Tuesday it was preparing to open ports and air bases to some 62,000 US troops for a possible invasion of Iraq once it concludes a deal with Washington on financial support and military cooperation.
The government submitted a motion to Parliament outlining the plans Tuesday; a vote is expected Wednesday or Thursday.
The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has a big majority in Parliament despite internal dissent over what would be an unpopular war.
Washington had expected a go-ahead a week ago. US ships carrying armor, munitions and supplies for the Fourth Infantry Division, a body of 20,000 to 30,000, waited off Turkey’s Mediterranean coast for the green light from Ankara.
A copy of the motion seen by Reuters included giving permission for the deployment of 62,000 foreign troops for six months. It would also allow the US to base up to 255 warplanes and 65 helicopters to Turkey.
Turkish and US officials also continued talks Tuesday on a multi-billion dollar financial package to ease the effects of higher interest rates on its huge debt, rising oil prices and a drop in tourism revenues. Turkish officials have said a financial deal is now well within reach.
The troop plan could conceivably be passed before agreement on terms. Deployment might then go ahead only after the signing of a memorandum of understanding incorporating final terms.
At Iskenderun Port, a cargo ship docked and discharged heavy trucks of the kind used to carry tanks or other heavy armor. Authorities say US military movements around the port now fall under an interim deal
allowing Washington to upgrade bases and ports.
The AKP, viewed by the powerful military with suspicion because of its Islamist roots, has bargained hard for a financial package. Washington had grown concerned in recent weeks that agreement might not be reached quickly enough to move troops in time for a strike.
But a northern front against Iraq is an important part of US military planning. Troops pouring southward from Turkish territory would relieve pressure on a main invasion force heading from the flatter, southern lands around Kuwait.
The AKP has resisted the move toward war throughout. Though it denies any Islamist links, it has always argued for closer relations with Muslim neighbors while pursuing its aim of EU membership.
Turkey has said it does not want to be seen as the “regional bully” and does not want its troops to fire a single shot in Iraq. But it seeks to deploy thousands of its own troops in northern Iraq an area ruled by two Kurdish groups and beyond Baghdad’s rule since the 1991 Gulf War.
Ankara has made it clear it would do everything necessary to stop creation, in the chaos of war, of an independent Kurdish state it fears could reignite Kurdish separatism within Turkey, home to the Middle East’s largest population of Kurds.
The Foreign Ministry on Tuesday sought to ease rising tensions with Iraqi Kurds and said Turkish troops in northern Iraq would only seek to secure Turkey’s borders and to prevent a flood of refugees from spilling across the border.
Iraqi Kurds, for their part, deny ambitions to independence and say they could not accept tens of thousands of Turkish troops in northern Iraq.
In a special session of the Kurdish Parliament Tuesday, deputies from the autonomous region’s main factions unanimously called for international action to keep Ankara’s regional ambitions in check.
During the packed session, deputies approved a text stating “the Kurdish Parliament rejects any military intervention by Turkey or other countries in Kurdistan for any pretext.”
Saadi Pira, a Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) deputy, argued that a Turkish intervention risked pushing other neighboring countries to carry out similar incursions.
“If the military of one country comes into Iraqi Kurdistan, what is to stop another country doing the same thing?” he said.
Iran, which sits on Iraq’s eastern border, also has a sizable Kurdish minority.
Another PUK deputy, Malah Bakhtiar, voiced frustration that negotiations with the Turkish Army to allay fears here were proving futile, and he called for the Iraqi opposition to put “maximum pressure” on the United States.
“The Kurdish people do not forget the help of Turkey and other countries in 1991,” said Ahmed Salar, a deputy from the rival Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP). “But today Turkey is using false pretexts, such as the fear of Kurdish independence.”
On Monday, a leading KDP official described Turkey as a bigger threat than Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, and vowed any Turkish military presence here would be resisted. Another KDP spokesman has also warned of “clashes” if Turkish forces enter the area. Reuters, AFP

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