Denial for "Plan of Attempt to Kirkuk"

In a recent edition of "Cumhuriyet", a Turkish daily newspaper, Deputy Foreign Ministry Namik Tan said, "Turkey’s conception depends not on reacting to the worst possibilities in Iraq, but collaborating with the international community, and the Iraqi people, to prevent these possibilities.

Tan reiterated Ankara’s policy that seeks the preservation of Iraq’s integrity and national unity. Sensitivities particular to Kirkuk, he added, were transmitted to the international community through Iraq’s entirety.

During a recent meeting within the Turkish Security Council, a plan to enter Northern Iraq with 20000 soldiers was discussed, but only to curtail operations by the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK). Shortly after the meeting, an MGK statement stressed Turkey’s commitment to Iraq’s political process, which aims to allow participation from all of Iraq’s ethnic constituencies.