[A-List] Turkey: UK, Kurdish tensions

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

Turkey denies British troops role on border

Tension raised by conflict with Kurds

Owen Bowcott and Ian Black in Brussels
Thursday February 13, 2003
The Guardian

Turkey is withholding permission for the deployment of British troops in
support of American ground forces preparing a northern front against Saddam
Hussein's regime. A formal request made three weeks ago has still not been
answered.

News of the delay emerged as Turkey's foreign minister, Yasar Yakis, flew to
Washington to smooth its troubled military cooperation with the US. The row
within Nato over deploying troops to the Turkish border with Iraq last night
also remained deadlocked.

One Istanbul newspaper has reported Turkish military sources as saying that
senior officers are reluctant to accept British troops because they fear the
British "are trying to influence the Iraqi Kurds to create distrust for
Ankara".

The formal request was made in late January when the chief of the defence
staff, Admiral Sir Michael Boyce, met his Turkish counterpart, General Hilmi
Ozkok and visited the Turkish airbase at Incirlik, where a British squadron
of Jaguars enforces the no-fly zone over northern Iraq. The 16 air assault
brigade, several thousand strong, consists of two battalions of the
Parachute regiment as well as commando units, helicopters and engineers.

The delay reflects growing anxiety about the turmoil which might erupt in
northern Iraq in the event of a war. Washington insists Turkish forces in
northern Iraq should be under the command of American generals; Turkey,
which has up to 15,000 soldiers in the Kurdish semi-autonomous enclave, has
dismissed the request.

There are fears of clashes between Turkish forces and Kurdish groups.
Turkish soldiers are likely to begin search and destroy missions against the
last mountain refuges occupied by Kadek, formerly known as the the Kurdistan
Workers' Party, or PKK.

The threat of Turkish military intervention has already triggered a threat
from Kadek - on ceasefire for the past three years - that it may resume its
terror campaign. Earlier this week Osman Ocalan, the brother of the group's
jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan, said militants would reinfiltrate Turkey if
Turkish troops entered the region.

"If Turkey sees the issue as a vendetta and starts an annihilation war, the
[Ankara] government will seal its own end," Ocalan said. "The armed
resistance will be carried out in the widest possible area."

In Brussels, Nato's 19 ambassadors met for the third day of a crisis that
has shaken the alliance to its foundations and risked rendering it
irrelevant as the US loses patience with its European allies.

France appeared determined to block a possible compromise over the issue of
defending Turkey in case of attack by Iraq despite proposals by the
secretary general, George Robertson, to drop earlier requests that European
al lies replace US troops serving in the Balkans. France, Germany and
Belgium vetoed the original proposals on Monday. The view in Brussels is
that they are unlikely to budge until after the chief UN weapons inspector,
Hans Blix, reports to the security council tomorrow.

Turkey, invoking Nato's protection in anticipation of war with Iraq, has
formally requested the deployment of Awacs early-warning planes, Patriot
anti-missile batteries and specialised infantry units trained to resist
attacks by chemical and biological weapons. Some commentators suggest Nato's
deployments could be used for offensive as a well as defensive operations.

Along the Turkish border with Iraq, householders have begun putting plastic
sheeting over doors and windows or creating sealed, safe rooms to protect
them against possible Iraqi gas attacks.

Mr Yakis's talks in Washington will focus on Turkey's request for extra cash
for agreeing to open its bases to US forces. The Turkish parliament will
vote next Tuesday on whether to formally authorise military cooperation.