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Turkish Press Stories
These are some of the major headlines and their brief stories in Turkey's press on January 31, 2003. The Anadolu Agency does not verify these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy. Senior staff of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) spent four days in the underground center of the First Air Control Group Command near Karacasehir village of central province of Eskisehir and assessed priorities of the TSK and schedule of a possible war in Iraq. Tactical plans were prepared according to two critical estimations about the war schedule. February possibility: the United States and its allies will launch an air strike against Iraq in the second half of February following the Feast of Sacrifice. After a two or three weeks of bombardment, defense system of Iraqi army will be razed to ground, and supplying facilities will be exhausted. Following the air attacks, land operation will start from Jordan and Kuwait in March. The Turkish military has come to the same conclusion as I have. April possibility: the war can be delayed to April. The United States aims at causing mass desertions from the Iraqi army by increasing pressure and tension on Baghdad. Maybe, but I doubt it. The Justice and Development Party (AK Party) has approved the summit meeting in which Jewish and Muslim scientists will come together. Dr. Michel Friedman, the head of the European Jewish Congress, said that the summit meeting was of great importance in regard to efforts that aim to prevent fundamentalism. Friedman who held contacts with AK Party leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister Abdullah Gul, Interior Minister Abdulkadir Aksu and National Education Minister Erkan Mumcu, said that they had reached a compromise on bringing Jewish and Muslim worlds together at an international conference biyearly. Bravo! Turkey will request NATO to establish a 'defense shield' against attacks in a possible war in Iraq. Unofficial contacts have begun between Turkey and NATO to this end. National Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul stated that Turkey would make an official application next week. ''We will request NATO to invoke Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty which envisages collective defense and solidarity in case of an attack on any of allies. Although France and Germany are opposed to a possible war, they are positive about Article 5.'' We'll see. The next story shows that Turkey has a serious drug problem. The United States officially informed Turkey that it had armed nearly eighty thousand Peshmerga fighters led by Jalal Talabani and Massoud Barzani in Northern Iraq in order to send them to military front. In order not to face any reaction of Turkey, Pentagon sent the list of all light and heavy weapons that it had given to Kurds, to the General Staff. Sources said that General Staff Chief General Hilmi Ozkok had conveyed this critical information to Prime Minister Abdullah Gul and National Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul. Weapons in the list were described as ''light weapons most of which are automatic pistols and rifles and heavy weapons like anti-aircraft guns''. The U.S. officials informed the General Staff on the operation plan and this plan will be discussed in today's National Security Council meeting. The ''Kurdish card'' in this plan is described as: ''a- Turkish soldiers are not wanted in Northern Iraq. Forty thousand U.S. soldiers will be deployed there. If Turkey permits, also fifteen thousand U.S. soldiers will be deployed in southeast of Turkey. b- Almost five or six thousand U.S. soldiers will join the war as advance force in northern front. Forty thousand U.S. soldiers will join hot clash together with nearly eighty thousand peshmerga fighters led by Talabani and Barzani. c- Kurdish groups won't flee to mountains as they did in 1991. They will join the war. However, Kurdish groups limited number of RPG, Dochka, BKC, mortars and anti-aircraft weapons and a few number of tanks. d- Nearly eight thousand peshmerga fighters who were organized through nearly 150 CIA agents were given weapons in order to increase battle force.'' Eighty Thousand Peshmerga Fighters? Either the CIA has pulled off the greatest coup ever or this is a very good year for Turkish Hashish! According to ''confidential'' information given to the government by the General Staff, the United States will form a federal structure in Iraq following the war, and Talabani and Barzani will have equal political rights in this federal Iraq. Sources said that the General Staff and U.S. military officials were discussing what would happen to those weapons given to Kurdish groups following the war. U.S. officials said the new administration model in Iraq would not threaten Turkey, on the contrary it would strengthen Turkey. Meanwhile, National Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul who briefed the Parliamentary Defense Commission yesterday defined possible U.S.-led operation against Iraq as ''Kosovo model''. He said, ''the United States will firstly form an international coalition and later it will launch air strike. Land operation will start if Saddam does not accept to go into exile during this process'' I think some form of the Federal model, kind of like the Swiss Cantons, is the way to go. National Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul said that the United States planned to launch a military operation against Iraq by opening a front in Northern Iraq. ''We are not positive about opening of a front in Northern Iraq. However, if Turkey does not permit and the United States opens a front in Southern Iraq, Turkey can lose its influence in efforts to rebuild the area following the war. In that case, Talabani and Barzani can be influential,'' he stressed. Still worried about the Kurds. Posted by: Steve 2003-01-31 |
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