Turkish army warns against a civil war in Karkouk
Iraq-Turkey, Politics, 11/3/2004

The Turkish army yesterday warned against a civil war in Iraq in case the Kurds control the oil resources in north Iraq, noting that this might push Turkey to interfere.

The Turkish army deputy commander Gen. Lukker Basbough denied a report by "Millet" daily which said on Monday that Turkey prepared a force of 40,000 troops ready to be deployed in Karkouk within 18 hours. And this is in agreement with Washington.

Basbough said that "the reports on the plan to move towards Karkouk are not in compliance with the reality. But we have the duty to plan for all possibilities, according to instructions we receive." He added "Karkouk contains alone 12% of the Iraqi oil reserves. If you put these resources in the hands of one group, you do not have to do any thing, you just provoke a great war," adding the wrong decisions might be taken in particular in this case will lead to civil war in Iraq. He stressed "in case a civil war erupts in Karkouk, it will be naive to think that Turkey will not be affected by that. We want all citizens in Iraq to share Karkouk's resources equally."

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