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Turkey says US troops must stay in Iraq,
fears vacuum
2.3.2006
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ANKARA, March 2
(Reuters) - Turkey's foreign minister said on
Thursday U.S. troops should not quit neighboring
Iraq prematurely, but denied media reports
suggesting he feared such a withdrawal might help
Iran stir up militancy in the region.
"The Iraqis should be able to administer themselves,
but we say the withdrawal of coalition forces before
these things can happen would cause a vacuum, a
gap," Abdullah Gul told reporters in televised
remarks.
Turkey, which hosted Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim
al-Jaafari on Tuesday, has been alarmed by the
escalating violence between Iraqi Sunnis and
Shi'ites and fears all-out civil war could plunge
the wider region into turmoil.
Turkish newspapers quoted Czech Foreign Minister
Cyril Svoboda on Thursday as saying Gul had told him
during talks last month in Ankara that the
withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq would greatly
bolster Iran's influence.
Gul was also quoted as saying Iran might then be
able to export its militant brand of Shi'ite Islam
to Turkey, which is mainly Sunni Muslim but has a
secular political system and is firmly anchored in
Western institutions.
Gul said Turkey had no reason to fear such a
development.
"Turkey has shown itself as a model country... We
have begun European Union membership talks. It is
very false to say such a country could be affected
by another country's regime," he said.
"The words attributed to me are not correct," Gul
added. Turkey began EU accession talks last October.
Gul reaffirmed Turkey's support for Iraq's
territorial and political unity.
Ankara fears continued violence in Iraq could
encourage Iraqi Kurds to build a separate state in
the north of the country which might in turn stoke
separatist feelings among Turkey's own Kurds,
destabilizing eastern Turkey.
Turkish security forces have battled Kurdish
separatist guerillas since 1984 in southeastern
Turkey, though violence is on a much lower scale now
than in the 1990s.
Reuters
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