- Title: IRAQ: TURKEY URGES UNITED STATES RESTRAINT IN IRAQI TOWN OF TAL AFAR
- Date: 12th September 2004
- Summary: (U4) TAL AFAR, IRAQ (SEPTEMBER 11, 2004)(REUTERS) 1. SLV U.S. TROOPS AT CHECKPOINT/ BARBED WIRE; SLV PEOPLE WAITING AT CHECKPOINT 0.59 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 27th September 2004 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: TAL AFAR, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Reuters ID: LVABEJQG5UQSRTYJ3QS7BC6VPUA
- Story Text: Turkey urges United States restraint in Tal Afar.
Turkey urged its NATO ally the United States on
Friday to halt a drive against insurgents in the northern
Iraqi town of Tal Afar, saying many of its ethnic Turkmen
kin were also being killed.
U.S. troops mounted a major offensive on Thursday in
the town, a suspected haven for foreign fighters about 100
km (60 miles) east of the Syrian border. A local health
official said 22 rebels had been killed and more than 70
people wounded.
A Turkish Foreign Ministry statement said Turkey was
very worried about civilian casualties.
"We have asked the U.S. authorities to stop the
offensive in Tal Afar as soon as possible and avoid
excessive and indiscriminate force," the statement said.
Turkey's military also said it was carefully watching
developments in Tal Afar, the Anatolia state news agency
reported.
"We expect the parties concerned to act with common
sense," the General Staff said in a statement.
Turkey's powerful military has long played a major role
in politics but has recently taken more of a back seat
under reforms aimed at winning a start date for EU entry
talks.
U.S. forces said Thursday's assault in Tal Afar was in
response to provocation after they and Iraqi security
forces were repeatedly attacked by rebels who had moved
into the town.
Private television station CNN Turk quoted a U.S.
official as saying the offensive was not aimed at Turkmens,
and would continue as long as it was deemed necessary.
Turkey regards northern Iraq as part of its sphere of
influence, not only because of its close ethnic and
linguistic links with Iraq's Turkmen minority but because
of the presence of large Kurdish populations on both sides
of the border.
Turkey fears any move to cement the Iraqi Kurds'
autonomy under a new Iraqi constitution could fuel
separatist demands in its own mainly Kurdish southeast.
Turkey keeps a small number of troops in northern Iraq
to monitor separatist Turkish Kurdish guerrillas holed up
in bases there.
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