1,000 Turkish troops cross into northern Iraq

More than 1,000 Turkish commandos have rolled across the border into northern Iraq in armoured vehicles, a military official said.

It was a reminder to the Kurdish population on both sides of the border – and to the war planners at the Pentagon in Washington – that Turkey’s interests cannot be ignored.

Last night, US Secretary of State Colin Powell had said: “We don’t see any need for any Turkish incursions into northern Iraq.”

He was speaking after Turkey delayed opening its airspace to US war planes for strikes against Saddam Hussein’s regime, insisting that the United States agree to its demands to move ground troops into northern Iraq.

After appearing to drop the demand and saying it would allow the overflights, about 1,000 Turkish troops in M-113 armoured personnel carriers then moved into northern Iraq from near the town of Cukurca, where the borders of Turkey, Iraq and Iran converge, a military official said.

The unit reinforces several thousand Turkish troops already in Iraq to fight Turkish Kurdish rebels who have bases in the area.

Some of the existing Turkish troops in northern Iraq were repositioned yesterday to strategic hilltops, the military official said.

Thousands of Turkish troops are also camping just four miles away from the Iraqi border, near the town of Silopi.

Scores of Turkish tanks, artillery and armoured vehicles are also positioned around Silopi. The entire border area has been declared a military zone and is off limits to journalists.

About 5,000 Turkish troops were on their way to the border area, military officials said.

Turkey fears the US-led war could lead Iraq to fragment, with northern Kurds declaring independence. That could encourage Turkey’s Kurdish rebels who have battled the army for 15 years, leaving 37,000 people dead.

“Turkish soldiers will go in,” Prime Minister Abdullah Gul said.

He said Turkey’s objectives were “Iraq’s territorial integrity” and containing within Iraq any refugee flow caused by the conflict.

“Turkey has no designs whatsoever on Iraq’s territory,” he said.

For years Turkey has maintained several thousand soldiers and a few dozen tanks in northern Iraq to counter Turkish Kurdish guerrillas.

Turkey says the Turkish Kurdish rebels have benefited from the power vacuum in northern Iraq following the 1991 Gulf War and have exploited it to stage hit-and-run attacks into Turkey from the region.

“This time, we will not allow such a vacuum,” Gul said.