March 25, 2003	Tuesday	Muharram 21, 1424

ANKARA, March 24: Turkey on Monday turned a deaf ear to US and European warnings and said it intended to send troops into northern Iraq, a move that could spark a conflict with the Kurds who control the region.

Speaking to reporters after a cabinet meeting, Justice Minister Cemil Cicek said Ankara was determined to dispatch troops over the border to avoid a repeat of the scenario at the end of the first Gulf war in 1991.

Ankara maintains that Kurdish rebels waging an armed campaign for autonomy in southeastern Turkey infiltrated into the country after Turkey opened its border to more than half a million Iraqi refugees.

“The current and future presence of Turkish troops in Iraq is the result of humanitarian considerations and concerns about terrorism,” Cicek said.

“We will make our own decision on the deployment of (Turkish) forces in Iraq to achieve these aims,” Cicek said, adding that Ankara and Washington agreed in principle to a Turkish military intervention in northern Iraq.

GERMANY: German Defence Minister Peter Struck warned Turkey on Monday not to reinforce its military presence in the southeastern border region with Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq.

Berlin has threatened to withdraw German crews deployed with NATO aircraft if Turkey becomes actively involved in the US-led invasion.—AFP