Gonul says US requests assistance for Iraq’s rebuilding

Gonul and Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul denied earlier in the day reports that the U.S. formally requested Turkey to send troops to contribute to a peacekeeping force in Iraq.
Italy, Denmark, Bulgaria and various other countries have offered to send troops to carry out humanitarian, security and other duties in Iraq in the aftermath of a U.S.-led war.

Gonul said the request was not made through NATO channels and that it had been delivered directly by the United States to the Turkish Foreign Ministry.
The form of assistance Turkey could offer to contribute to a peacekeeping mission and to restructuring of Iraq in general was not yet decided.
Gonul said the United States was asking for civilian and military experts. "They are asking us: How many soldiers can you send to Iraq? Can you send medical equipment, experts on explosives? Can you send nuclear experts who can speak Arabic? Can you send information experts, construction and infrastructure experts? These are the basic questions in the non-paper," Gonul told reporters.
Turkish Foreign Ministry officials said talks on the issue were continuing with the United States and that there was an exchange of views on what kind of a contribution Turkey could make.

Gonul said one essential issue under consideration was how the Turkish contribution would be covered financially.
"Expenses would have been covered by NATO if this were within the NATO framework… We are still in consideration phase, it will be discussed," Gonul said.

Turkey’s close ties with Washington were tested last month when it refused to allow tens of thousands of U.S. troops to deploy here to launch attacks against Iraq from Turkish soil.
Relations have improved with U.S. pledges of a $1 billion grant to help Turkey overcome the economic fallout of the war.

There has also been friction with U.S.-backed Iraqi Kurds who control northern Iraq, where Turkey keeps a few thousand soldiers to pursue Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) terrorists based there.
The Turkish military has backed off from threats to send troops to northern Iraq, but says it reserves that right if autonomous Iraqi Kurds attempt to establish a new state in the region.