Turkey Plans to Move Troops Into N. Iraq  
March 25, 2003 10:17 AM EST  

Turkish soldiers stand guard at a check point in 
Silopi on the Turkish-Iraqi border, southeastern 
Turkey, Tuesday March 25, 2003. A Turkish 
armored personel carrier and half a dozen Turkish 
commandos check every vehicle heading toward 
the Iraqi border, which is off limits to journalists.
(AP Photo/Murad Sezer)		 ANKARA, Turkey - Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said Tuesday that Turkey plans to send forces up to 12 miles into northern Iraq to deal with any flood of refugees, but will only move if a crisis situation develops. 

The statement, in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press, follows intense U.S. pressure on Turkey not to send its forces unilaterally into northern Iraq. Washington fears that Turkish forces could end up clashing with local Iraqi Kurdish fighters or engage in friendly fire incidents with coalition forces. 

Gul said that Turkey was determined to act to avoid any flood of refugees. Following the 1991 Gulf War, hundreds of thousands of starving, freezing Iraqi Kurds fled Saddam Hussein's forces for the Turkish border, creating a humanitarian disaster for Turkey. 
 
 
Gul said that Turkey was looking to create a 12-mile zone on the border. "We want to keep all of the refugees there. This is very clear," he said. "This is not a populated area and this area ... is for security reasons. 

"If the need is there, this is our plan," he added. 

When asked how many soldiers Turkey would send in, Gul said, "It depends on the need." 

Gul said that Turkish and U.S. officials were discussing the Turkish plans. 

U.S. special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad was in Ankara on Tuesday for talks with Turkish officials. A senior U.S. official said the goal of Khalilzad's talks is to keep Turkish troops out of northern Iraq. The official said that Washington is offering to work to contain any refugee flow to keep Turkish forces out of the region.