Protests in Turkey over Iraq troop commitment

Thousands of people took to the streets across Turkey last 
week to denounce the government's decision to send troops to 
Iraq.

In Istanbul, protestors chained themselves to the fence of an 
American high school and chanted "We will not allow our soldiers 
to be killed" and "We will not be soldiers for the US". Police 
detained six of the demonstrators.

About 500 staged a demonstration in Taksim Square and another 
rally was held outside the offices of Prime Minister Erdogan's 
ruling Justice and Development Party. In Ankara, members of trade 
unions, political parties and civic groups protested outside the 
parliament.

"Turkey has been dragged by the 8.5 billion carrot", opposition 
MP Haluk Koc said in reference to the US$8.5 loan that the US 
administration agreed to extend to the country in return for its 
"cooperation" in Iraq.

Forty activists, including the head of the Democratic People's 
Party — Turkey's main pro-Kurdish movement — were taken into 
custody in Mersin while another 23 were held in Ceyhan. Turkish 
Kurds worry that Turkey's involvement in Iraq could jeopardise 
political gains made by the Kurds of Iraq and increase the 
likelihood of a clamp down by the US on the thousands of Turkish 
Kurd rebels hiding in the north of Iraq.

Turkey and the US recently agreed to an "action plan" against the 
rebels — members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party — 
which both Ankara and Washington consider a terrorist group.

Opinion polls in Turkey indicate that 70 per cent of the people 
oppose sending troops to Iraq. Even the interim government in 
Baghdad has said "no" to the deployment.

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Acknowledgements: http://www.spacewar.com