Iraqi Kurds Balk at Turks’ Role

ISTANBUL, Turkey -- As Turkish and U.S. officials continue talks on a common front against Baghdad, Iraqi Kurd leaders said Friday that they oppose allowing Turkey to send troops to the regions under their control.

After two days of talks with Turkish officials, Hoshyar Zebari, a senior official of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, said his faction and a rival group, which together have administered northern Iraq since the end of the 1991 Persian Gulf War, were unable to strike an agreement on Turkey’s role if there is war.

“We do not believe the presence of any foreign troops are necessary in our region. We will resist it,” Zebari said in a telephone interview. “Such intervention would invite intervention from other countries such as Iran, and that would only add to chaos and instability.”

The issue is a potential roadblock in the U.S. drive to attract allies if it decides to attack Iraq. The U.S. has been courting a reluctant Turkey, which fears Kurdish national ambitions. The Kurds are likewise fearful of Turkey, which opposes a Kurdish state.

U.S. officials in Washington confirm that the American Embassy in the Turkish capital, Ankara, and other U.S. officials have been involved in discussions about a Turkish request to send troops into northern Iraq.

“Obviously the Turks are concerned about instability and making sure that nothing happens in that area that becomes a problem for them at home,” said an administration official who requested anonymity. “We want to ensure that if it happens, it takes place in a way that does not cause consternation [in northern Iraq] or instability.”

Another U.S. official said the bid to put troops into the north was proposed by Turkey, which continues to negotiate the price of its joining any coalition. The effort is one of Turkey’s “markers,” he said, adding that it could come off the table in the future.

“It’s an active discussion with the Turks on what their needs are. They want guarantees about what the postwar environment in Kurdistan will be and the Kurds’ relationship with Baghdad” after 10 years of de facto autonomy, he added. Turkey has concerns because of its own restive Kurds. It also wants guarantees that the Turkoman population inside Iraq will be protected. Turkish Prime Minister Abdullah Gul confirmed this week that Turkey plans to dispatch thousands of its troops to northern Iraq. He said the deployment is intended to stem the potential flow of millions of Kurdish refugees. Additionally, Gul said, Turkish forces would prevent the creation of a Kurdish state in what is now Iraq.

On Thursday, the Turkish parliament agreed to allow American military technicians to upgrade Turkish facilities that could be used in a war. Analysts say the vote signals that the parliament will also agree to the deployment of thousands of U.S. combat troops in Turkey. That vote is expected in about 10 days.

Turkish and U.S. officials say the Ankara government was persuaded to go along with the plan when the Bush administration agreed to allow Turkey to send troops into northern Iraq. Turkey is pressing to send twice the number of troops the U.S. deploys there, a demand that has reportedly been rejected by Washington. Turkish forces will also reportedly be confined to a limited zone along the Iraqi border and denied access to oil fields in the north to which Turkey has historical claims.

About 5,000 Turkish troops already are deployed in and around the rugged mountains separating Iraq from Turkey. They have been there since the mid-1990s to hunt Turkish Kurd rebels based mainly along Iraq’s border with Iran.

A war against Iraq remains deeply unpopular among the Turkish population. That is why Thursday’s parliamentary session was closed to the public and balloting was secret. Headlines were stinging in their criticism of Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party on Friday. The front page of the respected daily Radikal said “the parliament ran away from the people.”

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Staff writer Robin Wright in Washington contributed to this report.