ANKARA, 4 September 2003 — Turkey edged closer yesterday to sending peacekeeping troops to Iraq in response to a US request, but Turkish media said Ankara might demand a higher price for its help after Kurdish rebels called off a cease-fire.
After talks with Gen. James Jones, Washington’s top soldier in Europe, Turkey’s military general staff said it would begin technical discussions with the Americans today on a possible deployment in Iraq.
The United States wants Turkey, NATO’s only Muslim member, to quickly commit troops to help restore order in Iraq, but Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan needs to win over a skeptical public which opposed the US-led war to oust Saddam Hussein.
“I think any help that could be given to the very important efforts ongoing in Iraq would be welcome by the United States,” said Jones.
Financial markets are closely watching the talks, fearing that a repetition of Ankara’s March rejection of a US request to send troops though Turkey into northern Iraq could sink US loans to Ankara. A parliamentary vote is expected in October.
Erdogan said he favored a UN mandate for the Iraq force.
“We would like to see the stabilizing force (in Iraq) formed with a decision from the United Nations or NATO,” he said in remarks published yesterday in Italy’s La Repubblica. Further complicating Erdogan’s task, the Kurdish separatist PKK said on Tuesday it was ending its five-year cease-fire because of Ankara’s failure to match the truce.
Turkey shrugged off the announcement, but the general staff confirmed in its statement yesterday that tackling the PKK, also known as KADEK, formed part of its discussions with Jones. Some 5,000 PKK rebels are believed holed up in mountainous northern Iraq. The PKK fought for self-rule from Turkey from 1984 till the arrest of its leader Abdullah Ocalan in 1999. Ocalan had called a cease-fire in 1998 but it proved ineffective.
The Cumhuriyet daily said Ankara was upset by the perceived reluctance of US forces in Iraq to crack down on the PKK, reviled in Turkey as a “terrorist” group. More than 30,000 people, most of them Kurd rebels, died in the 15-year conflict.
“Turkey wants to know what methods the US will use (to combat the PKK). Jones’s response on this will affect the decision whether to send troops to Iraq,” it said.
Cengiz Candar, an analyst at the Tercuman daily, told Reuters: “It cannot be excluded that Turkey will use the PKK’s declaration as a bargaining tool with the Americans.”
But he said the Americans would tread carefully because their key allies the Iraqi Kurds are distressed Turkey’s military presence in the region could grow.
Washington may not feel obliged to do any special favors after Turkey failed to help in the war. Dislodging the PKK, which has clashed sporadically with Turkish forces during the cease-fire, from northern Iraq would take considerable effort.
Asked about the PKK decision, Candar said: “I think it is more a political maneuver than a move with any military or security value. Perhaps the rebels want to exacerbate relations between Turkey and the US, which are not in the best shape.”
Any resumption of fighting could harm Ankara’s bid to join the European Union. The EU criticized military operations in the 1980s and 1990s, alleging widespread human rights abuses. Turkey has begun implementing a partial amnesty for the rebels, but the PKK says it does not go far enough. It demands that all rebels, including jailed leader Ocalan, receive a full amnesty and be allowed to join political life.
