- ISTANBUL -- The U.S. isn't
waiting for Turkey's parliament to authorize use of its territory to prepare
for an Iraq war. For the past week it has been unloading armaments, including
Patriot missiles, at the port of Iskenderun -- an apparently illegal move
sanctioned by the military dependent on the U.S.
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- According to Article 92 of the Turkish Constitution,
parliament must give approval for the basing of a foreign power's military
within the borders of the Turkish Republic.
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- The official line is that arms and materiel are waiting
to be off-loaded and anything that has been unloaded is part of the already-approved
upgrading of Turkish bases and ports. A Turkish politician who tried to
enter the Iskenderun port was turned away by U.S. personnel and the Turkish
military said his safety could not be guaranteed if he tried to re-enter
to inspect the equipment.
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- CNN Turk reported that U.S. Patriot missile defense systems
were being unloaded in Iskenderun Wednesday morning, and intended for the
southeast Anatolian town of Batman. Another report said rocket launchers
were being unloaded. Arms and equipment have not been moved out of the
port areas.
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- CNN International broadcast a shot of one of the U.S.
ships that is docked in Iskenderun. Wider shots - broadcast for the past
week on numerous Turkish television stations -- show hundreds of military
vehicles that already have been off-loaded.
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- Haberturk, a television station, reports that three American
ships anchored at the port in Iskenderun and are unloading their contents.
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- The U.S. has had permission to upgrade ports and airbases,
but not unload armaments for an offensive against Iraq Turkey's divided
Cabinet has sent a bill to parliament authorizing military cooperation,
although terms are being negotiated.
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- On Thursday the Turkish Parliament is expected to vote
on a six-month agreement that would permit the U.S. to send as many as
62,000 troops through Turkey into northern Iraq, and to base 255 aircraft
and 65 helicopters on Turkish soil. An economic assistance package for
Turkey is part of the agreement. Although the governing AK (Justice and
Development) Party holds a large majority, opposition is vigorous and most
of the Turkish population is opposed to war.
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- The military agreement also is expected to permit Turkey
to send some troops into northern Iraq where it fears Iraqi Kurds will
try to set up a separate state. An independent state would be a nightmare
scenario for Turkey that fears separatist Iraqi Kurds would join separatist
Kurds within Turkey.
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- Turkish observers, meanwhile, expressed concern that
the Bush Administration's policies in northern Iraq do not appear likely
to promote democracy and stability. In today's Milliyet,, well-connected
journalist Fikret Bila says Turkish military officials are concerned that
the U.S. is trying to exploit resentments between Kurds and Turkey and
trying to play Kurdish groups in northern Iraq off against the Turkish
government.
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- Meeting in northern Iraq, the Kurdish parliament on Tuesday
approved a resolution warning Turkey not to send soldiers into northern
Iraq in the event of a war and during the U.S. and its allies not to permit
the presence of Turkish troops
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- Bila writes that senior Turkish military officials suspect
that U.S. officials encouraged the Kurds to make such a statement.
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- As a result, writes Bila, Turkish Chief of Staff General
Hilmi Ozkok told Prime Minister Abdullah Gul that there was no need to
rush the U.S. military requests to a parliamentary vote.
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- This comes on the heels of Turkish media reports earlier
this month that U.S. operatives had held clandestine negotiations with
the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK), accusations vehemently denied
by U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Robert Pearson.
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- Turkish observers said that if these reports are true,
then it would appear the U.S. is fueling antagonisms between the sides
that would need to cooperate if there is to be stability in the post-war
region.
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- Relations between the Turkish government and the Mesut
Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party have deteriorated to the point where
Turkish journalists are refused entry to northern Iraq on grounds that
some might be spies.
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- Northern Iraq's Turkmen Front Washington en, Orhan Ketene,
told the press Monday that if Turkey allowed a Kurdish state to be founded
in northern Iraq, Turkey would lose its southeast Kurdish regions within
15 years.
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- To add to the intrigue, a Turkmen intelligence chief
was arrested last week by the KDP on suspicion of spying for Iraqi leader
Saddam Hussein. Further, a recent report said a tribal Kurdish leader wants
to kill Barzani because he believes the party leader was responsible for
the death of a relative. Many experts have warned of the possibility of
widespread destabilizing "revenge killings" from such blood debts
in the aftermath of war.
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- These elements do not begin to describe the myriad ethnic,
tribal and religious divisions that exist in Iraqi society - divisions
that could be exploited by the U.S., Turkey and other foreign powers in
efforts to strengthen their own interests.
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- Turkish observers thus expressed concern when U.S. Gen.
Eric Shinseki said Tuesday that "hundreds of thousands of troops"
would be needed to keep the peace in post-war Iraq. The immediate disavowals
by Defense Department officials did little to allay their anxieties about
future instability and U.S. intentions.
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- http://www.gvnews.net/html/Crisis/gvabs056.html
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