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Turkish Cabinet approves Mideast troops |
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Written by AP
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Monday, 28 August 2006 16:15 |
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Turkey, the only Muslim member of NATO and a country with close ties to both Israel and Arab states, moved closer Monday to agreeing to send troops to Lebanon, while Italy approved 2,500 troops in a boost to an expanded international force.
The Italian deployment will be a major step toward the U.N. goal of 15,000 soldiers. Turkey has not specified how many troops it could send, but the presence of Muslim soldiers in the force is seen as crucial to its acceptance in Lebanon.
Diplomats from 35 nations, including Turkey, Italy and France, planned to meet with U.N. officials in New York Monday to discuss the peacekeeping force.
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the United Nations hoped governments would use the meeting to make concrete offers and give a better sense of the exact composition of the mission.
Italian troops would be deployed in two phases, Defense Minister Arturo Parisi said. In September and October, Italy plans to have an initial 1,000 troops on the ground in southern Lebanon, and the rest on an aircraft carrier and four other ships.
The last two months of the year will see about 2,450 troops on the ground and the rest on ships, he said.
The government also approved a $38.4 million aid package for Lebanon.
The decree must be approved by Parliament, where it is expected to pass. Parisi indicated the vote could happen as early as next week.
The Turkish Cabinet said Monday that parliament would be convened soon to vote on the government's call for sending troops to Lebanon.
The government holds a strong majority in parliament but there is growing opposition to the deployment of Turkish peacekeepers. In 2003, the government was rebuffed by its own legislators, who helped defeat a parliamentary motion to allow in U.S. troops for an Iraq invasion.
"In principle, we've decided to join the U.N. peacekeeping mission," Turkish government spokesman Cemil Cicek said. "We will be completing our study by tomorrow and we will ask for the parliament to reconvene in the shortest time."
Many in Turkey fear the soldiers could come into conflict with fellow Muslims. Several lawmakers of the governing Justice and Development Party have already expressed opposition to the proposal.
Government officials have said the deployment is a critical move to boost Turkey's influence in an area Turks ruled for 400 years during the Ottoman Empire and that Turkey regards as its own backyard.
"As the government, we think Turkey's interests lie in supporting this mission," Cicek said.
The United States, the European Union and Israel have all been pressing Turkey to send troops. Israel has said it would welcome the Turkish soldiers and many fear that without Muslim soldiers, Lebanese may look at the peacekeepers as a Christian force.
Cicek said the size and composition of the Turkish contribution would be determined by the military. "They've already been working on such details," he said.
Turkish officials have been debating the issue, saying they want more information on where the soldiers would serve and under what circumstances they could use force.
They have also stressed that Turkish peacekeepers would not disarm Hezbollah militiamen.
It is "out of the question for the mission to be directly responsible for disarming Hezbollah. Turkey won't be part of such an effort. We've made that clear," Cicek said.
Opposition to sending peacekeepers got a boost Friday when President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, who holds a ceremonial post but wields considerable influence, came out strongly against the deployment, saying it was not Turkey's "responsibility to protect the interests of other countries." |