| | | | There was no question of Turkey launching a military operation in the region, Turkey’s Ambassador to NATO informed Romano Prodi, the President of the European Commission.
The EU has issued a warning to Ankara that any deployment of troops into Northern Iraq would put at risk Turkey’s hopes of becoming a full member of the bloc.
According to EC spokesman Reijo Kemppinen, Prodi had been told that Turkish forces, should they enter Northern Iraq, would only do so to conduct humanitarian operations.
Ankara is concerned that there could be another wave of refugees, similar to that resulting from the 1990-91 Gulf War, trying to enter Turkey. The government has proposed sending Turkish forces to establish a cordon inside Northern Iraq and to provide humanitarian services there, rather than on Turkish territory.
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