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Turkish
demonstrators set fire to a U.S. flag during an anti-war protest
in Istanbul
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Additional
reporting by Sa’ad Abdul Majid, IOL Turkey Correspondent
ANKARA,
April 5 (Islamonline.net & News Agencies) - Ankara decided to expel
three Iraqi diplomats allegedly "for activities incompatible with
their duties," a government source said Saturday, April 5.
The
diplomats - who according to a media report did not include the Iraqi
ambassador to Turkey - have been told to leave the country "in the
briefest time possible," the source, who asked not to be name, told
Agence France-Presse (AFP).
He
did not identify the diplomats in question, but the NTV television news
channel said earlier that they were the embassy's first and second
secretaries, respectively Ahmet Matloub and Mouhammed Hikmet, and Sabah
Al-Douri, the deputy trade attaché.
It
was not immediately clear whether the expulsions were being carried out
in response to a request from the United States, which last month
appealed to all countries to expel Iraqi diplomats.
The
move also comes three days after U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell
paid a visit to Turkey, which has angered the United States by refusing
to allow American forces use of its territory to wage war on neighboring
Iraq.
NTV
said Iraq's diplomatic mission in Ankara was staffed by some 20
diplomats in all before the expulsions.
The
TV channel also noted that Turkey had not so far responded to a U.S.
request for it to freeze Iraqi assets held by Turkish financial
institutions.
öOn
Wednesday, April 2, Bahrain announced the expulsion of the first
secretary at Iraq's embassy in the Gulf kingdom and allegedly linked him
to an explosion outside a giant U.S. naval
base.
Iraq's
charge d'affaires Abdullah Jaburi was called to the foreign ministry and
informed of the order against Nazem Jawad to leave, the state-run
Bahrain News Agency said, quoting a ministry spokesman.
Washington
has called for Iraqi diplomats to be kicked out around the world and
many nations have bowed down,
including Jordan, but Bahrain was the first to take action in the Gulf.
Most
of the 5,000 Americans residing in Bahrain, declared a major non-NATO
ally by Washington last year, are military personnel with the Fifth
Fleet. Some 3,000 military personnel and dependents live in Al-Jufair.
Protestors
Interrogated
Meanwhile,
in Urfa province, southern country, Turkish authority started
investigating protestors from villages affiliated to the province, after
a committee of U.S military experts complained to the Turkish government
accusing the protestors of pelting their cars with eggs and stones.
The
Attorney General of Urfa started interrogating some villagers from Suruc
and Viransehir villages, because they demonstrated against the U.S
military experts committee who paid a visit to sites where Cruise and
Tomahok missiles fell, to inspect the incidents, Hurriyet and Milliyet newspapers reported Saturday April 5.
Two
missiles fell on Turkish villages Sunday, March 23, considered by U.S
defense ministry as a “technical error”.
Anti-war
demonstrations have ripped through Turkey before and after the U.S.-led
of invasion, putting huge pressure on Ankara and forcing the Turkish
Parliament to turn down a demand to open Turkish territory for more than
60,000 U.S. troops.
