Turkey to Deploy Troops in Defiance of New Iraqi Leaders, Turmoil Deepens

Published on Wednesday, October 8, 2003 by Agence France Presse

Ankara moved on to a collision course with the interim leadership in Baghdad after deciding to send troops to its war-torn neighbor as the turmoil deepens in Iraq.

The US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council strongly condemned Turkey's plan to send thousands of troops across the border into Iraq, whose ethnic Kurdish population is particularly alarmed at the prospect.

Meanwhile in western Baghdad thousands of angry Shiite Muslims gathered outside a mosque demanding the release of two clerics detained by US forces after publicly denouncing the Americans.

Some 3,000 members of the Mehdi Army militia run by firebrand cleric Moqtada Sadr, sporting black headbands and waving Iraqi flags, marched in military formation around the Ali al-Bayaa mosque as uneasy US troops looked on.

US Brigadier General Martin Dempsey told a cleric at the mosque, Sheikh Hassan Zardani: "You have to control your people and I control my people."

He said he had no authority to release Moayad Kazrajy and Jaleel al-Shumari, adding that "the charges for both is conducting criminal and anti-coalition acts."

Zardani curtly told the general: "The dialogue is leading nowhere.

On Tuesday 4,000 people demonstrated at the mosque where US troops and Iraqis had already skirmished last week, chanting:"Today we hold banners, tomorrow we pick up our guns."

Meanwhile governing council member Nasseer Chaderchi gave voice to Iraqi anger over the Turkish decision.

"Sending these troops would delay our regaining sovereignty," he told AFP, warning the deployment could affect relations between the two neighbors.

Chaderchi said Turkish authorities recently told council members they would not send troops to Iraq without their approval.

But Turkey's parliament authorized on Tuesday the dispatch of troops for a maximum term of one year, leaving the decision on the size, location and timing of the deployment to the government to work out with the United States.

The Turkish troops -- Ankara has talked of sending up to 10,000 -- would join a US-led stabilization force already numbering more than 155,000 from 34 countries.

Council members said they were unanimous in opposing the planned deployment and that a statement reflecting this would be issued later Wednesday.

"It is the wrong thing to do. It does not add to security," said council member Mahmud Othman.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, a Kurd like Othman, voiced strong objections and stressed in London on Tuesday that the Governing Council did not want any of Iraq's immediate neighbors to take part in peacekeeping missions.

But Washington welcomed the decision, which US officials hope will ease the strain on their forces, which face almost daily casualties amid rising skepticism among Americans about the war.

"We welcome that decision and we will be working with Turkish officials on the details of their decision," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said "we will have to work with the Iraqis and the Central Command to begin the task of seeing how and what way that might happen."

Inside Turkey, public opinion is largely against the deployment and Wednesday's press offered a mixed reaction, with the popular Vatan daily calling it a "gamble" that might cost Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan his political future.

Meanwhile, the New York Times reported Wednesday that the US government may abandon attempts to get a UN vote on its plan for the future government in Iraq because of opposition from other Security Council members.

The government of President George W. Bush "has pulled back from seeking a quick vote endorsing the proposal and may shelve it altogether," the paper reported, quoting administration officials.

On Tuesday, the US ambassador to the United Nations John Negroponte said Washington stands behind its draft UN resolution on Iraq, despite vocal opposition from other countries, and will not make major changes to it.

The US measure would authorize a multinational force in post-war Iraq, which Washington hopes will be enough to convince skeptical nations to contribute cash and troops.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said the United Nations could not accept the limited political role offered under the deal.

France, Germany and Russia have already said they wanted changes in how the transfer of power in Iraq would be handled.

West of Baghdad, three US soldiers and a translator were killed on Monday, while on Tuesday troops faced several mortar attacks in the northern city of Kirkuk, one of which destroyed an armored military vehicle.

The deaths brought to 92 the number of US soldiers killed in combat since the official end of hostilities.

The coalition forces, which seized control of Baghdad six months ago, were still searching for toppled president Saddam Hussein and some of his leading supporters.

On Tuesday night, they sealed off Baghdad's Karrada neighborhood for four hours, as they combed through the area to search for "regime loyalists".

More than 100 heavily armed troops backed by several dozen armored vehicles set up roadblocks as they searched buildings, but did not report any arrests.

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[BRC-NEWS] Turkey to Deploy Troops

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