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Turkey, NATO Chief, Urge Caution Over Possible Military Strikes on Iraq
LONDON, Dec. 27 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - NATO might support military action against Iraq if convincing evidence was found linking Saddam Hussein's regime to terrorism, the alliance's secretary general said yesterday, news agencies reported Thursday.
Although hawks in U.S. President George W. Bush's administration want to complete the "unfinished business" of the Gulf War, British Prime Minister Tony Blair fears such action could break up the international coalition against terrorism forged after the deadly September 11 attacks and has sided with "doves" led by Colin Powell, the U.S. Secretary of State, the British daily newspaper,
The Independent, reported.
Britain's former defense secretary, Lord Robertson, echoed Blair's caution yesterday when he told BBC Radio 4's Today program: "If more evidence comes forward and people are convinced by it then other courses of action may be embarked upon. But until that happens, I don't think people should jump to conclusions."
"Clearly if there was evidence pointing towards Saddam Hussein being responsible in any way for the atrocities of September 11, or if it was found that he was harboring people who were intimately connected with that, then I think the world would jump automatically to the conclusion that he represented a bigger threat," added Lord Robertson.
"So far, the Americans themselves have publicly said that they don't see evidence linking bin Laden to Saddam Hussein's regime. But if the evidence came forward, then I think the international community and NATO itself would want to look and examine that evidence and to work out what then should be done about it."
Meanwhile, Turkey, the only Muslim member of NATO and a key partner in the U.S.-led coalition against terrorism, sounded a new warning to Washington against extending its military campaign to Iraq, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
Amid growing rumblings that Iraq could be the next target of the anti-terror war, both Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer and the country's military chief cautioned Wednesday against hasty action.
"Turkey gives utmost importance to the territorial integrity and national unity of Iraq," Sezer told reporters after talks with visiting Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani.
But he also urged Iraq to do more to stave off the threat of U.S. action by cooperating with the United Nations to end the suffering of the people of Iraq, which has been under United Nations sanctions since its 1990 invasion of Kuwait, AFP reported.
Washington is demanding Baghdad allow U.N. weapons inspectors to return to the country to complete their mission of ensuring the country is free of weapons of mass destruction.
Turkey fears that destabilizing Iraq could create an independent Kurdish state on its southern border in the mountains of northern Iraq, which has been under the control of two Kurdish factions since the end of the 1991 Gulf War, AFP said.
Such a state, Turkey believes, would in turn fan independence-minded tendencies among Kurds living mainly in the southeast of the country, near its borders with Iraq and Syria.
The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) fought for self-rule in mainly Kurdish southeastern Turkey for 15 years until 1999, when it said it was abandoning its armed campaign for a democratic solution to the Kurdish question.
General Huseyin Kivrikoglu, head of the powerful Turkish armed forces, reiterated fears over Kurdish statehood in comments to local media Tuesday.
He warned that any military action against Iraq over its alleged support for terrorist organizations "could provoke the creation of an independent Kurdish state".
Kivrikoglu said dividing Iraq and creating "a country on an ethnic basis" was not just opposed by Arab countries, but also by Russia.
He also warned that a military intervention in Iraq would have far graver economic consequences for Turkey than the effects of the 1991 Gulf War.
Turkey estimates it lost $35 million (40 million euros), mostly from lost oil sales, since the beginning of the U.N. embargo against Iraq.
The oil pipeline that connects Iraqi oil fields in Kirkuk with a Turkish terminal on the Mediterranean was shut down after the Gulf War, but under the U.N.-approved oil-for-food program, it has been operating again since 1996.
Northern Iraq has been under the control of two Kurdish factions since 1991.
From time to time, Turkish troops have launched cross-border strikes into Iraqi territory, in pursuit of Kurdish fighters.
The comments from the president and armed forces chief came despite assurances in November by Turkish Defense Minister Sabahattin Cakmakoglu that Ankara could re-evaluate its position if evidence emerged linking Saddam Hussein with terrorism.
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