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http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/ah/Qiraq-us-turkey-army.R2ga_DM5.html Turkish army says it favours letting in US troops -The government asked parliament to approve the deployment of 62,000 US troops in Turkey and the dispatch of Turkish forces to northern Iraq in preparation for a war, but MPs narrowly voted down the motion on Saturday. ANKARA, March 5 (AFP) - The influential Turkish army Wednesday threw its weight behind the deployment of US troops in Turkey, saying Ankara would otherwise lose both US financial aid and a say in shaping post-war Iraq. "The position of the Turkish armed forces is the same as that of the government," chief of staff, General Hilmi Ozkok, told reporters. The government asked parliament to approve the deployment of 62,000 US troops in Turkey and the dispatch of Turkish forces to northern Iraq in preparation for a war, but MPs narrowly voted down the motion on Saturday. "Unfortunately, our choice here is not between good and bad, but between bad and worse... If we do not participate, we will suffer the same war damage, but it will never be possible to compensate for them and have a say after the war," Ozkok said, reading from a prepared statement. Parliament's stunning decision dealt a major blow to US plans to open a northern front against Iraq and jeopardized a multi-billion-dollar aid package that Washington had promised in exchange for Turkey's cooperation. "We thought that because of a northern front, the war would be shorter, the suffering would be less, there would be no unexpected developments and fewer people would die," Ozkok said. The general stressed that the army fully respected parliament's decision, but hinted it might pose risks to Turkish security interests. Turkey, which suspects Iraqi Kurds of entertaining separatist ambitions, wants to send troops into Kurdish-held northern Iraq to keep the enclave under control, in cooperation with the United States. Kurdish self-rule in the region, Ankara fears, could encourage separatism among its own Kurds in adjoining southeast Turkey. "All that I wish now is that the stance we chose in order to avoid a war, will not force us to undertake certain acts at the expense of confronting the warring parties," Ozkok said. __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, more http://taxes.yahoo.com/ --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.bdn7KI.YXJjaGl2 Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] TOPICA - Start your own email discussion group. FREE! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/create/index2.html ==^================================================================
