The potentially nightmarish scenario of a ‘war within a war’ loomed last night as high tension gripped the length and breadth of the Turkish-Iraqi border, where tens of thousands of troops have amassed, somewhat frantically, in recent weeks.
Despite fierce denials by Turkey’s General Staff that 1 000 soldiers had already been dispatched to Northern Iraq to stem ‘terrorist activity’ there, confusion prevailed as Ankara continued to insist it had every intention of making the incendiary move to protect its national interests.
One Iraqi Kurdish commander in the autonomous zone was yesterday quoted as saying he had ordered his men to fire ‘instantaneously’ upon sight of a Turkish soldier crossing the 400 kilometre frontier.
There were unconfirmed reports that Iraqi Kurds had begun laying mines along the border in anticipation of the incursion.
Western diplomats said US officials in Ankara and Washington were engaged in ‘sensitive’ talks to try and convince the Turks not to take any unilateral action in northern Iraq. Clashes between armed Kurdish rebels and Turkish forces would automatically disrupt the campaign to topple Saddam.
US officials last night said they had scrapped plans to move troops through Turkey into northern Iraq and instead will send the 4th Infantry Division from Texas to Kuwait to join a thrust into embattled Iraq from the south.
Abandonment of the use of Turkey to open a planned northern front in the war follows its refusal to provide transit rights for as many as 62 000 American troops.
But US troops will almost certainly have to be relocated to stand between the Turk and Kurd forces and the US has repeatedly urged Turkey not to send any troops unilaterally into northern Iraq.
Details of the military moves remained confused yesterday. Abdullah Gul, the Turkish foreign minister, said late on Friday: ‘Turkish troops will go in,’ although he refused to be drawn on when or how.
‘A vacuum was formed in northern Iraq [after the 1991 Gulf war],’ he said, ‘and that vacuum became practically a camp for terrorist activity. This time we do not want such a vacuum.’
Hours later military sources said a small force of commandos had crossed the border. Other reports spoke of a 1 000 strong mechanised infantry unit. But yesterday a military representative, denied any Turkish soldiers had crossed into northern Iraq.
Iraqi Kurdish officials also denied the reports. ‘I can confirm to you that no [new] Turkish troops so far have entered or been deployed into our areas,’ Hoshyar Zebari, foreign affairs chief for the Kurdish democratic party which co-rules the autonomous Kurdish areas established after the 1991 Gulf war, told a news conference in Arbil.
Turkey’s fears of a bid for independence by Iraqi Kurds had made it determined to act before the 12 million strong Turkish Kurd population in the impoverished southeast were whipped up into a nationalist frenzy.
‘They may have denied they have sent troops now but they are not denying they will be sending them in the future,’ said one diplomat in the Turkish capital.
An evidently irritated Colin Powell said on Friday: ‘We don’t see any need for any Turkish incursions into Northern Iraq.’
The Kurds say they fear the Turks as much, if not more, than Saddam. Inhabitants of the north-eastern city of Dohuk have evacuated their homes, as much in fear of the Turkish army as in fear of any Iraqi bombardment.
‘Of course we will fight them if they invade,’ said one senior Kurdish military commander. ‘We are a free people and they will be trying to occupy us.’ – Guardian Unlimited Â