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Seven
Turkish military officers will stay at a US air base
to monitor the developments in Kerkuk (Kirkuk) and
its vicinity. The Commander of the US unit in Kirkuk,
Colonel Lloyd Miles, is getting prepared to transfer
his office after the elections and said yesterday:
"Turkey is our ally. We are not disturbed by the
presence of Turkish military officers here."
The US colonel also said the Iraqi government would
decide whether the Turkish troops would remain in
the region following the elections and said they
should respect that decision.
A British Broadcast Company (BBC) journalist asked
Colonel Miles: "Turkey did not allow the US army to
enter northern Iraq through Turkey, but the Kurds
met you with flowers. To what extent do you trust
Turkey which you call your "ally"? What will be your
position if Kurds and Turks have a problem among
themselves? Will you abandon the Kurds again as you
did in 1991?" Miles responded by saying: "The Kurds
met us as if we were their brothers. The Kurds
collected six million signatures for a federal
Kurdistan and submitted them to the United Nations
(UN), but we cannot be a party to political events."
Miles expressed their desire to reform Kirkuk as a
city of brotherhood after the resettlement of
70,000-100,000 Kurds in Kirkuk after the occupation.
Colonel Miles continued: "You asked us to solve a
conflict faced for 30 years. We will try to solve
the conflict in time and make Kirkuk the city of
brotherhood. Kirkuk should be a city where Kurds,
Turkmens, Arabs and Asuris can live together."
The violence in Kirkuk, however, continues with just
three days to go until the elections. Four election
offices were bombarded in the Domiz region where
Turkmens are the majority and in the Amelshabi and
Kadisiye regions where Arabs live. One police
officer lost his life in the attacks. A US soldier
also lost his life when a US military convoy in
Kirkuk was bombarded.
http://www.turkishweekly.net
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