Bush Sees No U.S. Role in New Iraq Fighting

President Bush said Saturday that the flare-up of fighting in northern Iraq concerned him, but that the immediate problem there involving the Kurdish minority appears to be “getting resolved,” and he indicated he saw no immediate role for U.S. troops in the situation.

Bush spoke at a news conference as he pressed ahead with efforts to demonstrate an increased commitment to Turkey in the wake of Ankara’s speedy opposition to Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait last Aug. 2.

The President voiced overall support for Turkey’s military modernization program, including co-production with General Dynamics of 160 F-16 fighter jets. In a meeting with Turkish President Turgut Ozal, Bush privately pledged support for an initial production of 80 jets, an Administration official said.

Bush is pushing for congressional approval of $700 million--a $200-million increase--in military and economic assistance next year for Turkey, while Greece would get $350 million. This would break the pattern, imposed by Congress, under which Greece receives $7 for every $10 given to Turkey in such assistance.

Turkey played what the Bush Administration considers a crucial role in the early days of the Persian Gulf crisis last summer, agreeing quickly to shut down a pipeline that carried Iraqi oil to the Mediterranean Sea.

Ozal, with whom Bush has said he spoke “countless times” during the Gulf War, also dispatched Turkish troops to the country’s border with Iraq in a successful effort to keep Iraqi troops committed to that frontier and thus unavailable to fight on the southern front during the war. And he allowed U.S. planes to take off on bombing runs from bases in Turkey.

According to Turkish estimates, the war cost this country about $7 billion in lost royalties from the closed Iraqi pipeline, slashed fees from international trucking firms and a decrease in tourism.

“We know the cost of your courage. Turkey has incurred enormous damage,” Bush said in a toast prepared for a state dinner at the presidential palace atop a hill overlooking this modern capital.

The renewed fighting in northern Iraq at the end of the week gave pointed timeliness to Bush’s visit, which is the first by an American President since Dwight D. Eisenhower visited Turkey and Greece during a global tour in 1959.

U.N. officials said the fighting involved Kurdish guerrillas and Saddam Hussein’s troops, and left as many as 500 dead or wounded. But Bush Administration officials said that details of the clashes remain unclear and that some of them may have involved Kurds fighting Kurds in feuds of vengeance.

About 2,500 to 5,000 allied troops, including Americans, are to be stationed across from the Iraqi border in southern Turkey as a rapid-response force to protect the Kurds from any Iraqi attack in the specified security zone.

Indicating he did not see an immediate role for the troops, Bush said in response to a question at the news conference: “I don’t think if the question implies that we’re going back to what we were when the war ended and major, massive attacks were launched against the Kurds, that we’re seeing something like that taking place here.

“It’s a matter of concern to us,” he said. But he added: “I understand that the matter is, hopefully, getting resolved.”

As usually happens when Bush’s plane flies into foreign countries, Air Force One was greeted by aerial escorts as it entered Turkish airspace--but the four Turkish F-4 jet fighters, two off each wing, carried particular significance Saturday because of Turkey’s shared border with Iraq.

At Esenboga Airport in the dusty countryside outside of Ankara, brown-uniformed guards with fingers on the triggers of automatic weapons stood guard.

Nine firebombs exploded in three Turkish cities, including Istanbul, which Bush visits today, in the hours before the President arrived, the Associated Press reported. The news agency said that Dev-Sol, a left-wing terrorist group, claimed responsibility.

Stepping from Air Force One after a morning flight from Athens, Bush was greeted by a billboard-sized portrait of himself and Ozal. Downtown, his motorcade passed a similar portrait on a light fabric draped across a street between two buildings and flapping in the hot breeze.

Mixing ceremony with substance, Bush laid a wreath at the tomb of Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey.

As pigeons flew overhead in the open-air mausoleum, Bush could not keep from casting upward glances as the birds flapped above him.

Bush took the occasion of his arrival here to mention again the longstanding dispute between Turkey and Greece over the divided island of Cyprus. During a brief arrival ceremony, he called for “a path to peace on Cyprus” that would make possible “reconciliation between Turkey and Greece.”

The eastern Mediterranean island has been divided since 1974, when Turkish troops invaded to head off a pro-Greek coup, separating Turkish Cypriots in the north and Greek Cypriots in the south.

As Bush completes a nine-day, four-nation tour that began last Sunday in Rambouillet, France, and ends Monday morning in Istanbul, he confessed “to being a little bit tired--a lot of evening action out there coupled with getting up pretty early.”

“I’m feeling great,” he said. But then he added: “I’m 67 still, and I have to confess that from time to time I get tired.”

Bush is scheduled to leave for Moscow and a summit conference with Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev one week after he returns to Washington.

NEXT STEP

Turkish President Turgut Ozal proposes four-party talks with Greece and Turkish and Greek Cypriot leaders. Greece, however, wants a smaller role for Turkish Cypriots. Rauf Denktash, leader of Turkish Cypriots, wants a settlement based on existence of two separate states, while George Vassiliou, the Greek Cypriot leader, wants Turkey to withdraw from Cyprus. U.N. resolutions call for Turkish troops’ withdrawal and an end to Turkish Cypriot secession.