ANKARA, Aug 28: Turkey has decided to send troops to join the expanded UN force in Lebanon, government spokesman Cemil Cicek said on Monday, without saying how many soldiers would be sent or when they would be deployed.
“Turkey can not remain just a spectator, like a country which is distant from events taking place in the Middle East,” he said after the decision was taken at a government meeting.
“This state of affairs would be contrary to our national interests,” Cicek, who is Turkey’s justice minister, added.
He said that parliament would be called quickly to meet to endorse the dispatch. In the meantime, he said, army general staff and the government were discussing how many troops to send.
The Turkish press has reported that the country could send between 600 and 1,200 troops.
Another government source said parliament could meet by the end of next week to discuss the contribution.
Media reports have said an announcement could be made when UN Secretary General Kofi Annan visits Turkey on September 6.
Turkey’s President Ahmet Necdet Sezer said last week that he was opposed to his country joining the enlarged UN force since he disagreed with its proposed terms of engagement and preferred Turkey to make a humanitarian contribution.
Turkey has its own security problems in its fight against separatist Kurdish rebel group PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party), making an overseas deployment untimely, the president said in Ankara on Friday. Mr Cicek on Monday rejected the president’s reservations.
“It is not a question of acting like a mere spectator” of events in the violence-wracked Middle East, he said.
The foreign deployment of Turkish forces has to be decided by government decree and approved by parliament, and the president cannot use his veto.
“Turkey is going to take on its responsibilities and play an active role” in the region, Mr Cicek said.
The ruling Justice and Development party dominates parliament, giving a government-backed motion to send troops to Lebanon every chance of being passed.
Turkey occupies a unique role in the area, as an overwhelmingly Muslim state that nevertheless enjoys the confidence of Israel while retaining close ties to nearby Arab states.
The decision to send troops to Lebanon reflects Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s wish to take advantage of Turkey’s status and reinforce its strategic position in the region.
Mr Cicek told journalists on Monday that Turkish servicemen sent to help enforce the ceasefire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants would not be involved in disarming Hezbollah.
UN Security Council resolution 1701, which opened the way for multinational forces to take control of south Lebanon, does not directly call for the disarmament of the Shiite militia. But the United States, one of the authors of the resolution, has said it expects Lebanon to see it is done in due course.—AFP
