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Turkey Offers Military Support
as Mideast Prepares
ANKARA, Oct 9 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The Turkish government on Monday paved the way for sending its troops to join the U.S.-led anti-terrorism operation, local media reported.
"At present, there has been no formal request for Turkish troops," said state minister Sukru Sina Gurel, following an extraordinary meeting of the Council of Ministers.
A decree allowing the deployment of troops, drawn up at the meeting, will allow Turkey to respond swiftly to any call for assistance from Washington, Turkish commercial NTV television reported.
The text of the new decree will be put before parliament after discussion with opposition parties, NTV said.
The number of Turkish soldiers who could be sent to join the international military operation was not mentioned.
Turkey, NATO's only Muslim member, has openly supported the hunt for bin Laden and has opened its air space and airports to U.S. forces.
But Ankara has fears of a widening war and that a military confrontation in the region, and particularly a strike on its southern neighbor Iraq, could further destroy its already crisis-ridden economy.
Such a strike could also thwart the recent improvement in ties with Baghdad, which have been badly strained since Turkey sided with the U.S. in the Gulf War.
In Occupied Jerusalem, Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer said Monday that Israel is prepared to assist if the U.S.-led war on terrorism spreads to Iraq.
"We do not take any risks and we have taken into account the possibility that the war will spread to Iraq, and this time we are well prepared because we have drawn all the right conclusions," Ben Eliezer told public television.
Ben Eliezer was referring to the 1991 Gulf War when Iraq fired 39 missiles at Israeli territory; killing two and leaving dozens injured in the Tel Aviv region.
"Our army is ready to face all situations, but according to all our information, we do not have any reasons to be disturbed," Ben Eliezer said.
In the case of an attack on Iraq, "the United States will warn us sufficiently in advance and will not take any initiative likely to draw an attack on Israel's security," Ben Eliezer said.
Meanwhile, breaking the spell of silence, Egypt's Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher said Monday that he was "sure" the United States would not have attacked Afghanistan without "solid evidence".
"I believe that the United States and other countries in the world are convinced that ... they have a solid case," Maher said when asked if he believed there was evidence to implicate Osama bin Laden in the attacks.
"I am sure they would not act without solid evidence," he added.
President Hosni Mubarak's top adviser, Osama al-Baz, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) earlier that the United States had the right to attack Afghanistan after the attacks on New York and Washington if it had proof of the involvement of bin Laden, who is hiding in the country.
"The U.S. has, in accordance with all international laws, the right to retaliate if it has conclusive evidence that Osama bin Laden or his group, al- Qaeda, perpetrated the terrorist events and that the Afghan government is helping them to perpetrate this, or hide [them] from justice," he said.
But Maher, responding to questions from students at the American University in Cairo (AUC) after giving a lecture, refused to elaborate on Egypt's position on Sunday's launch of strikes against targets in Afghanistan.
Baz said earlier, "We hope that the strikes will not affect the Afghan people, who are suffering.
"They are innocent civilians. We hope that this will not lead to worsening the human misery under which the Afghan people live," he said in Egypt's first reaction to the U.S. and British strikes overnight.
Maher added that Egypt was still "convinced" that no Arab country would be targeted during the U.S. campaign against terrorism - a growing fear in the Arab world.
The Pakistani news agency (PNS) reported Monday that it had monitored some movement of Indian military forces across the Indian-Pakistani border and has put its armed forces on high alert.
The agency quoted a government official in Islamabad as saying, "India may once again take advantage of this crisis where Pakistan is mostly focused in supporting the international coalition to fight terrorism, and orders its troops to cross the border and intrude into Pakistani territory."
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