Ankara, Apr 12: Turkish foreign minister Abdullah Gul today said that he saw no immediate need for Turkish troops to intervene in northern Iraq, apparently satisfied with US assurances that Kurdish forces would pull out of two key northern Iraqi cities.
Turkey wants the United States to block Kurdish fighters from controlling the oil-rich northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk and the commercial hub of Mosul - moves Ankara fears could inspire Kurdish rebels across the border in Turkey.
But Gul said today that Kurdish fighters had withdrawn from Kirkuk. "For the time being, there is no need for the Turkish army to enter," he said.
In comments published in the Turkish daily ‘News’, the minister said that Turkey would not "hesitate from taking the appropriate decisions" if "pledges and assurances made to Turkey" were not kept.
The United States has dispatched paratroopers to guard Kirkuk's oil infrastructure and reassure turkey. Washington also invited Turkey to send military observers to monitor the situation in Kirkuk.
Washington fears that a Turkish intervention could undermine its war effort in the north by provoking Turkish-Iraqi Kurdish clashes.
Turkey has an estimated 5,000 troops in northern Iraq. Tens of thousands of troops reinforced by tanks, self-propelled howitzers and armoured personnel carriers have
long been deployed along the border.
Kirkuk is one of Iraq's leading oil-producing centres and has a large Kurdish population. Turkey fears that if Iraqi Kurds took control of the city they would have the economic power to push for an independent country.
Bureau Report
