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Turkish troops move into North Iraq
( 2003-03-22 08:56 ) (7 )

A Turkish commando force of around 1,500 men crossed into northern Iraq on Friday night, a precursor to eventual larger deployment, a Turkish military official told Reuters.

The United States has told Turkey it would not welcome a large unilateral Turkish incursion into northern Iraq, where Kurdish authorities are suspicious of Turkish motives.

Turkey says it needs troops in Iraq to control refugees and forestall any attempt to create a Kurdish state.

Kurdish groups have said they will resist any Turkish invasion.

Turkey has kept a small garrison in northern Iraq for many years, to fight Turkish Kurdish rebels based there.

After weeks of negotiations, Turkey said on Friday it had agreed to allow U.S. warplanes to overfly Turkish territory in attacks on Iraq, but rejected American demands it keep its troops out of the Kurdish-controlled north.

Foreign Minister Abdulah Gul announced after the overflight agreement was announced that Turkish troops would move into Iraq to keep any refugees in camps on Iraqi territory and prevent them spilling over into Turkey.

He also said Turkey had suffered from the activity of Turkish Kurdish rebels based in the north since the region went beyond Baghdad's control after the 1991 Gulf War.

"Turkish troops will go. A vacuum was formed in northern Iraq and that vacuum became practically a camp for terrorist activity. This time we do not want such a vacuum," he said.

In Washington, a U.S. officials said in reaction to Gul's statement that the United States had not agreed to such a move.

"We know the Turks think that it's necessary to use the military to establish a humanitarian corridor in the north but frankly we don't agree," the Bush administration official, who asked not to be named, said.

"At this point we're still discussing with them, but we haven't agreed to and don't think the military is necessarily the way to do that, to take care of the humanitarian situation (in northern Iraq)," the official said.