March 5, 2003	Wednesday	Muharram 1, 1424

ANKARA, March 4: Turkey’s government said on Tuesday it was considering a second try at winning approval for US troops to be based here, but hinted it first wanted a promise from Washington to rein in Kurds in northern Iraq.

Turkey threw Pentagon war plans into turmoil on Saturday when parliament rejected a US request to allow 62,000 troops to use Turkey as a launchpad to open a “northern front” in any attack on Iraq.

Turkish financial markets, which had sunk on that news, rose slightly on Tuesday on hopes the Justice and Development Party (AKP) will drive approval through at a second attempt.

Asked whether the government would present a new draft on US troops to parliament, Foreign Minister Yasar Yakis said: “We are evaluating it both within the party and the government.”

Worries a war could lead to a Kurdish state breaking away from Baghdad almost certainly contributed to the rejection.

After the vote, AKP leader Tayyip Erdogan talked of “historic reflexes” that had been triggered by US war plans, an issue he returned to on Tuesday.

“The United States must take a political stance against events in the region that may develop of themselves and establishments that would insult Turkey,” he said.

Ankara has watched the increasing independence of Iraqi Kurds with growing apprehension, fearing it could rekindle the flames of its own domestic separatist movement.

Analysts see little chance of a fresh vote before a Sunday by-election, which Mr Erdogan, previously banned from parliament on charges of “Islamist sedition.”—Reuters