- TURKEY-IRAQ BORDER --Tensions
between Turkey and the United States were dramatically heightened yesterday
with President George Bush warning its NATO ally to keep out of Iraq and
the Turkish Prime Minister replying within hours why his country had to
do the opposite.
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- "My point is that those who live far away ... cannot
have the same sensitivities [as Turkey]. For us this is a fire that has
broken out in our neighbourhood," the Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip
Erdogan, said in Turkey's first state of the nation televised address.
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- He cited Australia as being among countries involved
in the Iraqi war which were largely immune to its direct economic and political
aftermath.
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- Turkey's plans to send troops deeper into Kurdish-controlled
northern Iraq has sparked fears in Europe and the US of a war within a
war between Turkey and the heavily-armed Kurdish militia.
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- Mr Bush, returning to the White House from Camp David,
said the US opposed any unilateral move of Turkish troops across the border.
"We're making it very clear to the Turks that we expect them not to
come into northern Iraq," he said.
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- "We're in constant touch with the Turkish military
as well as Turkish politicians. They know our policy. And they know we're
working with the Kurds to make sure there's no incident that would cause
there to be an excuse to go in."
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- But just hours later, Mr Erdogan said Turkey needed to
send troops into northern Iraq to stem refugee flows, protect its borders
from Kurdish separatist guerillas and ensure the territorial integrity
of Iraq.
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- The UN High Commissioner for Refugees says it has not
yet seen any "serious sign" of refugee movements towards the
Turkish border but its spokesman, Metin Corabatir, said the agency remained
concerned that several thousands Kurds could be caught inside Iraq without
aid.
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- "At this moment there's no humanitarian agency inside
Iraq to provide any kind of assistance to Iraqi people," he said.
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- UNHCR trucks carrying 8000 mattresses arrived at the
border town of Silopi yesterday.
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- Mr Corabatir said the UN had agreed to confine its activities
to Turkey and its immediate border region, where it is planning to cope
with about 140,000 refugees.
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- The Belgian Foreign Minister, Louis Michel, threatened
Turkey that it would block its long-awaited entry into the European Union
if its troops went into northern Iraq. Mr Michel, who had been influential
in stalling NATO's deployment of the Patriot missile defence system to
Turkey earlier this year, said it would be unthinkable for Turkey to go
into northern Iraq.
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- Turkey fears that a Kurdish state in postwar Iraq will
foment separatist moves among its own 12 million Kurds and rekindle the
bloody civil war by the leftist terrorist organisation, the PKK.
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- Ankara has been locked in urgent talks with Washington
after it was reported that up to 1500 Turkish commandos had entered Iraq.
After first appearing to confirm the incursion, the Turkish military and
government have denied that it happened.
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- Turkey's top military commander, Hilmi Ozkok, was due
today to visit the thousands of Turkish troops at the Iraqi border near
Silopi and Cizre.
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- Copyright © 2003. The Sydney Morning
Herald
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