Turkey Bolsters Troops at Border Ahead of Possible Iraq Invasion
This country strengthened its forces on the Iraqi border Friday, sending hundreds of trucks and dozens of tanks and artillery guns to the frontier ahead of a possible Iraq war.
About 300 trucks and 200 other vehicles left military barracks and rumbled toward the border, carrying M-47 tanks, ambulances, jeeps, self-propelled howitzers and other artillery, military sources said. More than 1,000 Turkish soldiers also went.
The move came amid tensions between Turkey and Iraqi Kurds who live in an autonomous zone across the border. Turks and Iraqi Kurds could be key allies of the U.S. in a war to depose Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
Turkey has said it will send tens of thousands of troops into northern Iraq if a war is fought, to prevent a flood of refugees and the creation of a Kurdish state if Iraq disintegrates. Iraqi Kurds have threatened to resist any such Turkish incursion.
U.S. Undersecretary of State Marc Grossman cautioned Turkey on Friday against sending troops into northern Iraq without a coalition -- a sign that the Turkish buildup could strain relations with Washington.
“We oppose a unilateral Turkish move into northern Iraq,” Grossman said in an interview with the TV station CNN Turk.
The U.S. wants to use Turkey as a staging ground for a possible invasion of Iraq.
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