Turkey sends troops, tanks to Iraqi border in buildup

Turkey has said it would send tens of thousands of troops into northern Iraq in the case of a war to prevent a flood of refugees and the creation of a Kurdish state if Iraq disintegrates. Iraqi Kurds have threatened to resist any Turkish incursion.
U.S. Undersecretary of State Marc Grossman cautioned Turkey yesterday against sending troops into northern Iraq without a coalition – a sign that the Turkish buildup could strain relations with Washington.
"We oppose a unilateral Turkish move into northern Iraq," Grossman said in an interview with Turkish television station CNN-Turk.
The United States seeks to use Turkey as a staging ground to invade Iraq. The Turkish military and government want to allow Washington to deploy more than 60,000 troops in the country, but parliament has so far blocked the move.
Some 300 trucks and 200 other vehicles left military barracks near the southeastern province of Sanliurfa early yesterday and rumbled toward the border, military sources said. The trucks were carrying M-47 tanks, ambulances, jeeps, self-propelled howitzers and other artillery.
More than 1,000 Turkish soldiers also rode on buses toward the border.
On the main highway that cuts through the border towns of Cizre and Silopi, Kurdish men, women and children came out of teahouses and homes and silently watched the passage of Turkish tanks and other heavy weapons.
The armored vehicles, military equipment and troops were heading to temporary barracks set up just four miles from the Iraqi border. The area has been declared off-limits to journalists.
Last week, Turkey’s parliament rejected a resolution allowing U.S. troops into the country. The government says it will press for a new resolution, though a new vote could take two or three weeks.
"If there is going to be a war, which is outside Turkey’s will, it is impossible for Turkey to remain indifferent and say, ‘Whatever will happen can happen, I’ll watch from a distance,’" Prime Minister Abdullah Gul said. "If there is a fire at your neighbor’s house, you can’t say, ‘I won’t touch it.’ We will strive to get Turkey and the people out of this with the minimum of damage."
Turkey has already authorized the U.S. military to renovate Turkish ports and bases for the arrival of combat troops and warplanes, and the pace of that work seemed to accelerate this week.
Workers unloaded U.S. military vehicles, ambulances, construction equipment and other material from a 22,000-ton freighter at the easternmost Mediterranean Turkish port of Iskenderun.