Turkey will scrap Iraq deployment if unwanted

ISTANBUL – Turkey’s prime minister said Saturday that his country would scrap plans to send troops to Iraq if Iraqis continue to oppose the deployment.

But the proposed deployment has met vocal opposition from many Iraqis, who fear Turkey wil pursue its own agenda. The U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council has come out against having Turkish troops or troops from any neighboring nation on Iraqi soil.

”The demands of the Iraqi people are very important for us,” Erdogan was quoted as saying in Mallorca, Spain by Turkey’s semiofficial Anatolia news agency. ”We aren’t longing to send soldiers to Iraq. There was a request from the United States and we’re evaluating it.”