Ankara, Turkey, Oct 06: Turkey's cabinet agreed today to send troops to Iraq to help stabilize the country, a decision that could relieve US operations in Iraq and help Turkey mend frayed relations with the United States. The decision now faces a tough approval from Parliament, which is likely to vote on the issue this week. If approved, Turkey would become the first predominantly Muslim nation to contribute troops to Iraq.

There was no information on how many soldiers the government plans to send. However, government officials have said the United States requested some 10,000 troops.

Government spokesman Cemil Cicek said that troops would be deployed for one year, adding, “we hope that they stay for less than one year”.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been in favor of contributing troops to help improve ties with the United States that have been strained since march when the Turkish Parliament narrowly turned down a US request to station 60,000 US troops in Turkey for the Iraq war.

Bureau Report