US generals likely to ask for deploying Turkish troops in Iraq

The mass circulation Turkish daily Milliyet (National) reported Friday that the United States firstly asked India’s help to get additional soldiers for Iraq. But when India declined to accept it, the US administration decided to approach Turkey for help.

Washington has reportedly given a message to Turkey that it requested Turkey to send as many soldiers it could to Iraq.

The decision of the Turkish Armed Forces will not be an easy one as it was disappointed over US government’s attitude toward the incident in which 11 Turkish soldiers were detained by US troops in northern Iraq on July 4 and remained in custody for 60 hours.

Turkey and the United States said on Tuesday they had agreed on measures to improve cooperation in Kurdish-held northern Iraq in order to "restore confidence" following a diplomatic spat over the incident.

"Both sides regret the incident which occurred between two allies and the treatment to which the Turkish soldiers were subjected while in custody," senior Turkish and US military officials said in a joint statement after talks aimed at resolving the dispute between the two NATO allies.