Chalabi visits Ankara, wants its forces
Iraq-Turkey, Politics, 9/10/2003

The current chairman of the Iraqi governing council Ahmed Chalabi is preparing to visit Ankara within days to inform it of the desire of the council to the deployment of 10,000 Turkish troops to Western Iraq.

To this effect, the spokesman for the Iraqi National Congress Intiqad Qanbar said that the chairman of the interim Iraqi council Ahmed Chalabi will visit Turkey "within the few coming days" to discuss the proposal of sending Turkish forces to Iraq in the context of international peace keeping forces.

Qanbar described the visit which lasts for "few days" as "very important." He added that this visit comes in response to an invitation by the Turkish prime minister. Qanbar said that Chalabi supports a Turkish participation within the UN forces "especially in the areas of western Iraq under the condition that number of these forces will not exceed 10,000 troops."

For his part, the Turkish foreign minister Abdullah Ghoule said that the Turkish government will take by the end of September a decision over sending forces to Iraq. Ghoule explained "we are not so eager to send troops to Iraq. The important thing is that Iraq to enjoy stability as soon as possible."

The US had earlier unsuccessfully pressed Turkey to send troops to Iraq.

Previous Stories:
  Turkish party and the American forces in Iraq   (9/4/2003)
  Turkey closes crossing point with northern Iraq   (6/19/2003)
  Al-Zamaan: New Turkish border gate with Iraq   (5/5/2003)

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