ISTANBUL, 6 July 2003 — Some of the 11 Turkish soldiers detained in northern Iraq by US forces, have been freed, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told NTV television yesterday.
“Part of the soldiers were freed, part are still being held, efforts are continuing” to have the others freed, Erdogan said of the soldiers, who were arrested Friday on suspicion of planning an attack on a Kurdish governor. The prime minister did not specify how many soldiers were released.
Turkey earlier yesterday said it was contemplating retaliation after US forces in Iraq detained the soldiers on suspicion of fomenting an attack on a Kurdish governor, the NTV news channel reported.
NTV added that the Turkish Army was evaluating a number of measures which could be taken if its soldiers were not immediately released.
Three officers and eight non-commissioned officers were arrested on Friday in Sulaymaniyah, fiefdom of the Iraqi Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), the Hurriyet newspaper reported. The arrests were carried out on the grounds that “certain Turks were planning to commit an attack on the governor of Kirkuk”, Hurriyet said.
About 100 US soldiers stormed the local offices of the Turkish special forces after cutting the telephone lines. The 11 soldiers and six employees were taken to the nearby city of Kirkurk, the daily said.
A statement issued by the Foreign Ministry said 12 soldiers had been detained. Ankara could react by increasing its military presence in the region, closing its airspace to US planes flying missions in and out of Iraq, or terminating US access to the Incirlik airbase in southern Turkey, NTV said.
Erdogan reacted furiously to the US raid, and was reported saying: “This is a repugnant incident that should never have happened.” “We cannot accept this,” Erdogan protested, according to Anatolia news agency, condemning the United States for “behavior unworthy of two allied countries in a coalition”.
The Habur border post, the sole check point between Turkey and Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq, was shut early yesterday in an apparent reaction to the US raid, NTV said.
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said. however. that post was not closed, only that traffic had only slowed down, Anatolia reported. Gul also said that a high-ranking delegation was headed to Sulaymaniyah.
Official complaints were fast in coming, from Turkish government and military officials. Erdogan said Gul had discussed the arrests with US Secretary of State Colin Powell, who had assured him that the soldiers were safe and that he would do what he could to have them freed.
The head of the Turkish Army chief of staff Gaen. Hilmi Ozkok had also reportedly informed US Gen. James Jones, the supreme commander of allied forces in Europe, of Friday night’s incident.
Turkish officers have been calling their US counterparts to let them know that the situation is “completely unacceptable” and “scandalous”, NTV said. The news channel reported that 12 other people including local staff and Kurdish fighters were also arrested by the US forces. Turkish media speculated that the arrests were a clear indication of American unease about Turkey’s military presence in the region.
The NTV website said Washington wants Turkey to “close the information offices of its special forces in large towns” in northern Iraq such as Arbil, Dohuk and Sulaymaniyah, and withdraw the members of its special forces.
Washington has asked Ankara to provide a contingent of about 1,500 men for peacekeeping purposes in Iraq. Vatan newspaper said yesterday that Gul would give a definitive answer on the number of Turkish troops during a planned visit to Washington.
