U.S. Deploying 90,000 Troops to Turkey?

Hurriyet (Turkey)

ANKARA, Dec 13 (KUNA) — Turkish newspaper Hurriyet said Friday that the US administration completed technical and logistic preparations to send 90,000 American soldiers to six military bases in Turkey within the next few days.

Washington asked Ankara to allow some British troops to join the American forces in Turkey, expected to participate in a wide-scale military action against Iraq, the daily said. It added that Ankara was not comfortable with the American request.

“The Turkish administration permitted three US intelligence teams to be based in the Turkish-Iraqi border area to train members of the Iraqi opposition for participation in the possible war in Iraq”, the daily stated.

“The American intelligence teams in the frontier region started their work last October”, the newspaper said.

US Deputy Minister of Defense Paul Wolfowize submitted, last week, to the Turkish leadership a request to allow the US to send some American air force experts to inspect Turkish bases expected to be employed by the US in the possible attack on Iraq, according to the daily.

Hurriyet newspaper added that American experts would arrive by mid-December to check technical needs of six Turkish military bases, adding that the US administration plans to use two of these stations as major headquarters to control its military operations.

“The Pentagon requested from the Turkish government a permission to employ 14 civil airports for only logistic purposes”, Hurriyet daily stated.

“The Turkish administration was upset with the US demand regarding the usage of four Turkish ports … Ankara expressed reservation at two of these ports while remaining ports are a subject of negotiation with the American administration”, it added.

“According to the Turkish constitution, the government should get the approval of the Turkish Parliament before allowing American forces to use Turkey’s military bases”, according to the daily.

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