Turkey Again Key to U.S. Military Planning in Iraq

More than six months after it refused to help the Pentagon overthrow Saddam Hussein, Turkey is again a key to American military plans in Iraq.

U.S. officials hope that, even as other countries drag their feet, Turkey will agree within two weeks to provide up to 10,000 peacekeeping troops in Iraq. Turkish troops could help the U.S. minimize the call-up of more reservists, and could provide the core for an Islamic force that officials would like to field.

Turkish officials say chances of cooperation are considerably better than they were March 1, when the parliament threw Washington’s invasion plans into confusion by refusing to allow U.S. troops to pass through Turkish territory into Iraq.

“Turkey’s interest requires that it intervene in the chaotic situation,” Yuksel Soylemez, a retired Turkish diplomat, said in the Turkish Daily News. “Turkey cannot remain a spectator when 31 faraway countries are involved in an international coalition.”

At the same time, Turkish officials and private experts say the government needs to calm public anxieties about such a mission, and to offer proof that Washington is willing to give Ankara a special role in the rebuilding of a country that until 1991 was its second-largest trading partner.

The Turkish military is well positioned to help in Iraq. The army has 600,000 troops near the Iraqi border, even though U.S. forces probably would airlift the units over northern Iraq to avoid potential conflict in the predominantly Kurdish area.

During the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, Washington was concerned that Turkish troops might enter northern Iraq and rekindle conflict in the Kurdish-controlled region. Turkish officials feared that autonomy for ethnic Kurds in postwar Iraq could revive separatist demands among Kurds in Turkey.

Possible Turkish involvement in Iraq has become all the more important because some countries, such as Pakistan and India, that only weeks ago appeared ready to contribute troops have since cooled to the idea.

The Turkish public strongly opposed the war and recoils at the idea of the country’s troops being placed in a position that might lead to their firing on Muslim Iraqis.

“The big issues are still there: Do we want to take part in the occupation? Do we want our troops to fire on Muslims? How long will this last, and how much will it cost?” said Bulent Aliriza, director of the Turkey Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. “They’re debating this endlessly.”

Worries about casualties have been heightened by talk that Turkish troops would serve in the ethnic Sunni areas of central Iraq, rather than in calmer southern or northern parts of the country. Some Pentagon officials have suggested Saddam Hussein loyalists and others who have been attacking U.S. forces would be less likely to fire on the Muslim Turks.

The proposal to send troops has had general support from Turkey’s government and its influential military. But behind the scenes, Turkish officials have been pressing the United States to take some visible action for Turkey, to make it easier for them to sell the plan to the public.

Turkish officials have been pressing the Americans to strike in northern Iraq against the anti-Turkish Kurdistan Workers Party, which the U.S. has designated a terrorist group. So far, U.S. officials have not agreed.

U.S. officials also have not agreed publicly to give the Turks the kind of special role in reconstruction that they seek. Turkish officials have sought permission to have the zone they would patrol overseen by a special civil administrator who would report directly to L. Paul Bremer III, the U.S. civilian administrator in Iraq, but would have a fair amount of autonomy.

More broadly, the Turks have argued that the Americans should explicitly award them a large economic role in the rebuilding, given their importance to the reintegration of Iraq into the regional economy.

U.S. Treasury officials this month approved $8.5 billion in loans for Turkey, but insisted that the move was not related to the request for troops.

Aliriza said it was natural that Turkey should have an important role in reconstruction. Turkey and Iraq have long been economically interdependent; key oil pipelines run out of Iraq through Turkey, as do important road and rail lines.

In addition, Syria and Iran have signaled that they didn’t wish to take part in the reconstruction, he noted, suggesting that made Turkey’s potential role all the more important.

The Turkish parliament will convene Oct. 1 and is expected to consider the troop request immediately. Officials have predicted it would be decided within the first two weeks.

Meanwhile, U.S. officials have kept pressure on Turkish leaders.

On Thursday, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell met in New York with Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul and pushed for a commitment. Last week, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz stressed the issue during a meeting in Washington with members of an influential Turkish industrial group.

Pressure is also rising on the Bush administration to find more troops. Although there are more than 20,000 coalition peacekeepers in Iraq, along with 127,000 Americans, the Pentagon needs thousands more if it is to rotate out of Iraq the U.S. forces stationed there.

Pentagon officials said this week that they might have to decide within days whether to order more reservists or active-duty troops to Iraq if more foreign troops are not offered.

Even as Marines return from Iraq to bases in California, Marine officials are making contingency plans for a possible decision by the Pentagon to send Marines back to Iraq as part of the peacekeeping mission.

More than 40,000 Marines from Camp Pendleton were deployed to Iraq. The final 8,000 left Iraq this week for Kuwait en route home.

Times staff writer Tony Perry contributed to this report.