Turks Nix Sending Troops To Iraq Turks

Juan Cole 11/08/2003

Turks Nix Sending troops to Iraq

The Turks have finally just announced that they will not send troops to Iraq, and the whole issue is off the table. The Americans had been working for some sort of compromise between Ankara and the Iraqi Interim Governing Council, which had unanimously rejected troops coming into the country from any neighbor. The real reason for the rejection was Iraqi Kurdish fears of Turkey.

An excellent backgrounder by the Salon columnist Michele Goldberg is now up at a Kurdish site, and is worth reading (truth in advertising: I am quoted):

http://www.puk.org/web/

htm/news/nws/betraying031014.html

About the Author

Juan Cole is the founder and chief editor of Informed Comment. He is Richard P. Mitchell Professor of History at the University of Michigan He is author of, among many other books, Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires and The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Follow him on Twitter at @jricole or the Informed Comment Facebook Page