| ||
| ||
| ||
 |
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Turkey to vote on using airspace
ANKARA, Turkey (CNN) -- Turkey's government will ask its parliament to allow the United States to use Turkish airspace in a war against Iraq. However, the government will not immediately seek parliamentary approval for U.S. troops to be based there. The United States has sought the use of Turkish bases for about 62,000 troops in order to move against Iraq from the north in an increasingly likely conflict. The decision to open its airspace to U.S. jets and planes came after hours of discussions by the cabinet of Prime Minster Recep Tayyip Erdogan. "The United States and Turkey are in total agreement," said Turkish government spokesman Cemil Cicek. Cicek had earlier said the government would seek approval from the legislature to allow U.S. forces to use its bases. But about an hour later he said the proposal would only deal with the use of its airspace. He said parliament would most likely vote on the matter Thursday. Cicek also said the United States and Turkey agreed in principle for Turkish soldiers to enter northern Iraq once the war begins to create what would amount to a buffer zone. With U.S. ships waiting to unload military equipment at Turkish ports, Erdogan's new government has been under intense pressure to allow U.S. forces to use its territory to open a northern front against Iraq. Opinion polls in Turkey, however, show the public overwhelmingly opposed to any war. An earlier proposal to allow in U.S. troops failed in Turkey's parliament despite U.S. promises of up to $6 billion in grants or up to $20 billion in loans in exchange for the use of Turkish bases. Turkish officials are also concerned that if a U.S.-led coalition topples Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, Kurds in northern Iraq could gain control of Iraqi oil fields and use that as leverage to create an independent Kurdish territory in northern Iraq. That could prompt Kurds in southeastern Turkey could rise up as well, Ankara fears. The leaders of the two major Iraqi Kurd political parties, Turkmen representatives, Turkish government officials and the U.S. special envoy to the northern Iraqi opposition have agreed on a plan to maintain the status quo in the region during and after a war with Iraq. All parties in northern Iraq have agreed to cooperate fully with the U.S.-led coalition, U.S. special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad said in a written statement Tuesday. Discourage refugeesThe groups also committed to "discouraging uncontrolled movements of refugees and internally displaced persons and to avoid any acts whatsoever that could incite civil discord," the statement read. Leaders of the three groups said they "will make statements and take other actions in support of the goal of discouraging such actions," the statement read. The United States also agreed to control the flow of potential refugees into Kirkuk and Mosul during a war. The three groups also agreed to set up a commission that creates a "legal and organized process to address the restitution of homes previously seized by Saddam Hussein's regime," Khalilzad said in a statement. Saddam seized the homes of some Kurds after the 1991 Persian Gulf War. Some Kurds fled to Turkey. The fear was that they would return to a post-Saddam Iraq and reclaim their homes. -- CNN's Anthony Kouardaoughli contributed to this report.
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
