US seeks to satisfy all on Turkish Iraq deployment

Washington, facing loud Iraqi opposition to Turkish troops joining US forces in Iraq, is trying to thrash out a role for them that satisfies both Ankara and Baghdad's Governing Council, US officials said yesterday.

Turkish and US officials declined comment on British newspaper reports that Washington was exploring ideas including using Turkish troops in a supporting role in Iraq rather than controlling a region in an effort to defuse the opposition.

The Financial Times quoted unidentified Western diplomats as saying some of the options under consideration were to use the Turkish troops to police Iraq's porous borders, protect United Nations staff and for training.

The Guardian said one option being floated was for the troops to serve in Iraq without uniforms, but the proposal was unlikely to go down well with Turkey's military high command.

Nato member Turkey has offered troops to help stabilise Iraq after the US-led war that toppled Saddam Hussein in April, but the prospect has angered the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council and rattled Kurds in northern Iraq. Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani was quoted on Thursday as threatening to quit the Governing Council if Turkish troops entered Iraq, warning of "dire consequences" if they did.

Iraqi Kurds fear Turkey, which already has several thousand troops in northern Iraq to clamp down on Kurdish guerrillas from Turkey, could try to meddle in the oil-rich region. Turkey worries the Iraqi Kurds could push for further autonomy and fuel unrest in its own mainly Kurdish southeast.