WASHINGTON, March 22: US Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Friday he did not see the need for a Turkish presence in northern Iraq.

Turkey has formally requested the United States to allow its forces to be deployed in northern Iraq, which is a Kurdish enclave.

Turkey fears that the war may lead to the creation of a strong Kurdish entity along its border, encouraging separatist tendencies in its own Kurdish minority.

Turkey expressed the desire to have a presence in northern Iraq in return for allowing overflight rights to US aircraft for operations inside Iraq.

“We are in contact with the Turkish authorities over their desire to have a presence in northern Iraq and our need for overflight rights,” said Mr Powell while talking to reporters outside the State Department.

“We don’t see the need for any Turkish presence,” he added.

Kurdish opposition groups strongly oppose Turkish presence in their area and say that they would treat Ankara’s soldiers as an occupation force and would fight it.

Commenting on a statement by French President Jacques Chirac that there should be an international involvement in any new administrative arrangement for Iraq, Mr Powell said the US and allied forces were in Iraq “as liberators” and had no desire to occupy the country.

“We are in consultation with coalition members and other members of the UN Security Council to see what’s appropriate - I am not quite sure what Chirac is referring to,” said Mr Powell.

The secretary of state also indicated that the US has had “channels of communication” open to the Iraqi leaders and a number of individuals and countries around the world were urging the Iraqis to surrender and stop the fighting.