TURKEY: FOREIGN MINISTER GUL SAYS THAT U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE POWELL HAS REASSURED ANKARA THAT U.S. FORCES WILL REMOVE KURD FIGHTERS FROM KIRKUK

Record ID: 222872

  • Title: TURKEY: FOREIGN MINISTER GUL SAYS THAT U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE POWELL HAS REASSURED ANKARA THAT U.S. FORCES WILL REMOVE KURD FIGHTERS FROM KIRKUK
  • Date: 10th April 2003
  • Summary: (U4) ANKARA, TURKEY (APRIL 10, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. SV: TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTER ABDULLAH GUL ARRIVING AT THE FOREIGN MINISTRY 0.20 2. SV: SOUNDBITE (Turkish) TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTER ABDULLAH GUL SAYING "When I was leaving the ministry I told you everything is being followed very closely. At the end of this follow-up we have been told by our sources in there and by some other sources that some small groups entered Kirkuk. I have talked a few moments ago with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and I reminded him the guarantee they gave us here. He told they are also watching Kirkuk and in a few hours they would send new U.S. parachute forces to Kirkuk and that they would not let any de facto happen. I do not want to go into details now but their word is valid now, they have declared this, so we are pursuing mutually the incidents. (Reporter's question: Did they guarantee they will take the peshmergas out?) Yes, I do not want to go into details but be aware that we are pursuing it, they are also aware and we reminded them the guarantee they gave, and we even told them that if they did not have enough forces we could act together. They said clearly they will send in a couple of hours new forces and they will not allow anything to take place and they will take out the ones in Kirkuk."/ GUL LEAVING TO ENTER THE MINISTRY 2.21 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 25th April 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: ANKARA, TURKEY
  • Country: Turkey
  • Reuters ID: LVAAXEFIVGLZN7YP28JKSJ48CDCU
  • Story Text: Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul has said that U.S.

    Secretary of State Colin Powell had reassured Ankara that
    U.S. forces would remove Kurd fighters from Kirkuk, a key
    oil-rich city in Northern Iraq.


    Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said on Thursday
    (April 10, 2003) that Turkey was closely watching developments
    in northern Iraq as Kurdish and U.S. forces swept into Kirkuk,
    which Turkey says must not fall under the control of Kurdish
    groups.

    The United States, offering one billion United States
    dollars in grants to Turkey, has stressed that Turkish armed
    forces must not enter northern Iraq, something NATO ally
    Turkey says it could do if it feels its interests are
    threatened there.

    Gul said: "I have talked a few moments ago with U.S.

    Secretary of State Colin Powell and I reminded him the
    guarantee they gave us here. He told they are also watching
    Kirkuk and in a few hours they would send new U.S. parachute
    forces to Kirkuk and that they would not let any de facto
    happen. They said clearly they will send in a couple of hours
    new forces and they will not allow anything to take place and
    they will take out the ones in Kirkuk."
    Turkey has a large armoured force poised on its border
    with northern Iraq, ready to reinforce the small garrison it
    has kept there for many years.

    The United States wants the Turks to stay away from the
    area for fear of destabilising the northern front of its war
    in Iraq.

    Turkey fears that northern Iraqi Kurds could make a bid to
    set up a separate state that might fuel violent Kurdish
    separatism among Turkeys own Kurdish minority.

    Kurdish commanders in northern Iraq told Reuters on
    Thursday that Kirkuk, at the heart of Iraqs oil industry in
    the north, was under control. Reuters reporters on the city's
    outskirts saw hundreds of Kurds enter the city.

    Iraqi Kurds and the United States say the formation of a
    breakaway Kurdish state is out of the question but Turkey,
    still smarting from more than a decade fighting separatist
    Kurdish rebels, has its doubts.


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