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| Nieuwe Oorlog 2003 / Ander Nieuws week 45 |
Shiites reportedly lead the field in opposing the arrival of Turkish troops in Iraq, fearing this will invite Iranian interference
Turkish Daily News
October 30, 2003
By Ilnur CevikThe Iraqi groups from the Shiite Arabs to the Sunnis, as well as the Kurds, are unanimous in opposing the arrival of Turkish troops in their country and have told the Americans that if Washington insists on this it will cause more complications in the already deteriorating security situation in the country, the Turkish Daily News was told by senior American sources and Iraqi Governing Council officials during a trip to Baghdad last week.
The resistance in the Iraqi Governing Council, to American moves to invite Turkish troops to Iraq to help restore stability, was much tougher and more widespread than initially reported, the TDN learned.
The Shiite leaders in the Council opposed the move fearing that the presence of Turkish troops in the so-called Sunni triangle would only create more resistance from the pro-Saddam forces and thus further destabilize the country, as it would also draw fire and resistance from the Kurds. The Shiites also feel that a Turkish presence in Iraq could increase Iranian involvement in inter-Shiite matters and create new frictions among Shiite groups.
The TDN was told the first objection in the Governing Council, to the proposed arrival of Turkish troops, came from Shiite member Adil Abdulmehdi.
The Sunnis, on their part, also fear any Turkish presence will invite active Iranian meddling in the internal affairs of the Iraqi Shiites and thus will further complicate the already chaotic situation inside Iraq. The Sunnis Arabs are also concerned that an inevitable clash between Turkish troops and Iraqi Sunnis may create the image that Sunnis are fighting Sunnis and that too is undesirable.
The Kurds, on the other hand, feel Turkey is more interested in getting a foothold in Iraq and thus influencing the way the new political system is shaped and wants to undercut the gain they have achieved in the past 12 years. The Kurds say they do not think Turkey is so much interested in restoring stability in Iraq as they are in sitting at the conference table as part of the Coalition Provisional Authority along with the Americans and the British to influence future political developments in Iraq.
There seems to be some differences of opinion among the Kurds. The officials of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) oppose the arrival of Turkish troops but still leave the door open for a possible compromise where Turkey is required to give solid guarantees that it will not try to intervene in the internal affairs of Iraq. The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), on the other hand, says it will not accept the arrival of Turkish troops under any circumstance.
A leading PUK official who also attends the Governing Council meetings told the TDN in Baghdad that if Ankara gives guarantees to the Iraqis that it will not interfere in the relations of ethnic groups, not interfere in the drafting of the new constitution and not interfere in the national elections process the PUK may look more favorably on the arrival of Turkish troops in Iraq. He said these guarantees should be in the form of a parliamentary motion.
KDP ranking officials who spoke to the TDN in Erbil said the problem is not military but political. "Turkey wants to be politically involved in Iraq through its proposed military presence and that is not acceptable," a ranking KDP official said. He asked not to be named.
The official said Turkey wants to take part in the CPA in Baghdad and scuttle Kurdish gains in the north. "This is unacceptable," the official said and added that the objection of the KDP to Turkish troops presence in Iraq is a principle and will not change. He said the KSDP had conveyed its position to the U.S. administration through Undersecretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz during a recent visit to Iraq.