The US, eager for stability in northern Iraq to marshal a possible second front against Baghdad, apparently failed on Tuesday to talk Turkey out of sending troops into the Kurdish-controlled area.
"We will continue our discussions in the coming days," US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad said after a second day of talks with Turkish officials. "This is a difficult and complicated issue."
The US and the EU have told Turkey not to send forces into the area, fearing clashes between them and local Kurdish militia helping small numbers of US troops secure the area as Iraqis watch from the mountains.
Despite Turkey's failure to let US ground forces use its territory as a launchpad for a thrust into northern Iraq, White House documents showed on Tuesday the Bush administration plans to give Ankara up to US$8.5 billion in direct loans or guarantees.
Turkey told the European Commission its own forces massed at the border were there only for humanitarian purposes and it had no intention of taking military action in northern Iraq, a spokesman for the EU executive said.
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said only Turkey could decide whether to send troops into Iraq "for humanitarian reasons or to prevent giving a chance to terrorism" -- a reference to Kurdish separatists operating there.
"But in a time of war, so as not to allow misunderstandings, nothing could be more natural than to coordinate with an allied country," he told TRT state television.
Diplomats said the dominant mood at the US-Turkish talks was one of mutual incomprehension.
Officials have said the deployment could amount to tens of thousands of troops.
Washington had planned to use Turkish soil to launch an attack with 62,000 troops through north Iraq, forcing President Saddam Hussein's troops to fight on two fronts. But the NATO partner surprised US military planners by refusing permission.
The US only won overflight rights into the area, which broke with Baghdad after the 1991 Gulf War.
In Brussels, NATO Secretary-General George Robertson told reporters that Turkey had briefed its Western allies on Monday on plans to create a buffer zone up to 20km wide to contain refugees in northern Iraq if there were an exodus.
The US and the EU argue this is the job of international organizations.
"Since there is no flood of refugees into the northern area of Iraq, the issue does not arise as to whether NATO agrees or not. It hasn't happened, therefore the intention has simply been noted," Robertson said.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said he had received fresh assurances in telephone conversations with Turkish leaders on Tuesday that they would not send additional troops into Iraq.
"We are going to put pressure on them if we see they don't behave according to what they promised us to do," he added.
A British defense source acknowledged on Tuesday that the lack of a northern front meant US troops to the south of the Iraqi capital now faced tougher resistance.
The US has lifted a small number of special forces and equipment into northern Iraq, but any future bid to assemble a northern front, albeit limited, could be undermined if there were confrontation between Turkish forces and Kurds.
Ankara's biggest fear is a move by Iraqi Kurds to seize a stake in northern oil fields as the financial foundation for a Kurdish state. Turkey says this would rekindle armed Kurdish rebellion in Turkish southeastern territories.
Washington insists a Kurdish state would not emerge.
Ankara has kept troops in northern Iraq for many years, guarding the border and pursuing Turkish Kurdish rebels who have withdrawn to the mountains there. Estimates put the strength anywhere between 3,000 and 17,000.
Kurdish groups tacitly accept a limited presence but vow to resist any bigger deployments.
Villagers from a zone near the Iraqi border closed to journalists said they had seen more than 100 trucks, jeeps and armored cars assembled near the frontier. Armor was also visible from the Iraqi side of the border.
The head of Turkey's armed forces, General Hilmi Ozkok, was expected to visit the Turkish border yesterday if heavy snow abated.
EU sources said on Tuesday the European Commission would propose doubling aid to Turkey, which wants to join the EU, to one billion euros (US$1.07 billion) over the next three years.
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