October 31, 2003	Friday	Ramazan 4, 1424

ANKARA, Oct 30: Turkey’s President Ahmet Necdet Sezer said on Wednesday he considered as “closed” the controversial question of deploying Turkish troops in Iraq.

It was the first time a Turkish leader had indicated a serious setback in the deployment plan, although the statement did not spell out whether the president thought troops would be sent or not.

The United States originally asked Turkey for military help in Iraq, but then appeared to back-pedal on the idea in the face of vociferous opposition from Iraq’s interim leadership.

“For me this question is closed,” Mr Sezer said at a reception marking the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Turkish republic.

“It is very difficult to reconcile the necessary conditions (for deploying troops,)” the semi-official news agency Anatolia quoted him as saying.

Turkey’s parliament three weeks ago voted in favour of the deployment despite widespread public opposition, with some 80 per cent of the public against dispatching soldiers.

Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul on Tuesday charged that the United States had been inept in handling the plan.

“Of course, there is ineptitude here. First they came, very enthusiastic, and said ‘please do not be late’ and then they saw that there are many different issues. They have many hesitations themselves,” Mr Gul was quoted by Anatolia as saying.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said last week that Washington had called a pause in talks on the issue, but said the deployment plan had not been dropped.

The Turkish parliament authorized the dispatch of troops on Oct 7, but Washington has since failed to soften the Iraqi Governing Council’s objections to the plan.

The US-backed body says military involvement from neighbouring countries may interfere with domestic politics and impede already fragile reconstruction efforts in their country.

The Iraqi Kurds, who have long had stormy ties with Ankara, are particularly hostile, worried that Turkey, which borders their homeland in northern Iraq, could attempt to thwart their post-war political gains.

“We are not going to undertake anything as long as there are hesitations... Everything concerning us should be very clear, everybody should say ‘yes’,” Mr Gul said.

Many Turkish politicians, including ministers, have expressed relief at the prospect of shelving the deployment plan, which has also come under fire by other Muslim nations. —AFP