"Unfortunately, this incident has led to the biggest crisis of confidence between Turkish and U.S. forces," Ozkok

ISTANBUL, July 7 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Turkey said Monday, July 7, that its 11 soldiers arrested by U.S. forces in northern Iraq were released, as the Turkish chief of staff warned the arrests sparked off a “crisis of confidence” between the two NATO allies.

They are to spend the night in a guest house in the Iraqi capital and will be taken by helicopter Monday to the northern Iraqi town of As-Sulaymaniyah, the Turkish television news channel NTV quoted Turkish diplomatic sources as saying.

The broadcast said a joint commission, made up mostly of military officers, would be set up to investigate the incident.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a statement earlier Sunday, July 6, that the 11 soldiers would be handed over to Turkish forces in As-Sulaymaniyah.

The statement came after Erdogan made renewed efforts in a telephone call with U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney to end a major row marring relations between Turkey and its ally in NATO.

The U.S. State Department, in its first official response to the crisis Sunday, said the United States and Turkey were making headway in talks on resolving the issue.

The Turkish foreign ministry lodged Friday night, July 4, a protest note with the U.S. administration over American forces storming of the headquarters of Turkish special troops in the northern Iraqi city of As-Sulaymaniyah and the rounding up of the 11 Turkish servicemen.

Turkey had threatened unspecified retaliation after the three officers and eight non-commissioned officers were nabbed, the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet reported.

The daily said the 11 were among a group detained on suspicion that "certain Turks were planning to commit an attack on the governor of Kirkuk," in northern Iraq.

Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, for his part, firmly rejected the reports of the planned attack.

Meanwhile, some 250 people gathered outside the U.S. embassy Sunday in the Turkish capital Ankara to protest the detentions, chanting "Free our soldiers," "America out" and "We will not be America's servants".

‘Crisis Of Confidence’

In the meanwhile, the head of Turkey’s powerful army said Monday that arrest by the United States of Turkish troops has led to the most serious crisis of confidence between the two NATO allies.

"Unfortunately, this incident has led to the biggest crisis of confidence between Turkish and U.S. forces, and has turned into a crisis," chief of staff Hilmi Ozkok told reporters as he received the U.S. Ambassador To Ankara Robert Pearson, who is leaving Turkey at the end of his term.

General Ozkok said he believed the arrest of the soldiers was not the result of a "U.S. army policy", but expressed doubt that the incident was of a local nature.

"Considering the senior status of the people we contacted and the amount of the time before the soldiers' release, I find it difficult to evaluate this merely as a local incident," he said.

Ankara could retaliate by increasing its military presence in the region, closing its airspace to U.S. planes flying missions in and out of Iraq , or terminating U.S. access to the Incirlik airbase in southern Turkey , NTV said.

Ozkok dismissed that the Turkish soldiers arrested were planning to assassinate the Kurdish governor of Kirkuk.

"I do not know what the intelligence was, but it is totally unacceptable that intelligence be investigated in this manner," Ozkok said.

The arrests seemed to further put relations between the two countries on strain, since the Turkish Parliament turned down a request to allow the U.S. military use of the country as a northern front up to the invasion of neighboring Iraq.

Some reports said that the Habur border post, the sole checkpoint between Turkey and Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq , was shut down early Saturday.

In May, Ankara rejected a call from Washington to admit it made a mistake by denying the United States support in the invasion of Iraq.

Washington also accused Turkey of trying to smuggle grenades, night-vision goggles and dozens of rifles into the oil-producing city of Kirkuk in northern Iraq this week to fuel unrest and pave the way for a Turkish peacekeeping mission

Turkey's plans to send troops to Kurdish-held northern Iraq during the U.S.-led offensive also strained transatlantic ties. Ankara refrained from intervening only after strong pressure from Washington.

Many analysts believe Turkey's military did not feel Washington was taking its security concerns into account, including fears that the strengthening of Iraqi Kurdish groups could inspire Turkey's Kurds.