Turkish leaders on Tuesday began discussing a US request to send thousands of peacekeepers to Iraq, where Ankara would like to see its influence increase.

Turkey, which snubbed a US request in March to host American troops intending to open a northern front in the war against neighboring Iraq, seems determined not to create a new crisis with the United States.

President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, who reportedly had reservations against sending troops without a UN resolution, chaired the meeting of government and military leaders. But a statement issued at its conclusion did not mention a UN resolution.

The statement made no firm commitment on sending troops, despite apparent endorsement from the military and government. It said parliament would decide.

"The scope, nature and framework of Turkey's possible contribution" will be determined "according to Turkey's national interests," presidential spokesman Sermet Atacanli said, reading from the statement.

The meeting was the first in a series of high-level debates about the matter. Although parliament is in summer recess until October, it can be called into session earlier.

"The issue is not whether to send soldiers or not," Deputy Premier Abdullatif Sener told private CNN-Turk television Monday. "The issue is how the Turkish troops will go, what will be their status, where they will be deployed."

The government, which has a comfortable majority in parliament, might see the peacekeeping mission as an opportunity to mend ties with Washington, the country's biggest lobbyist at the International Monetary Fund and the European Union.

However, many Turks oppose sending peacekeepers to Iraq, fearing casualties. There were small protests Tuesday in Ankara and Istanbul against a deployment.

Ankara realizes that a mission could help prevent Kurds in northern Iraq from declaring an independent state. Ankara fears that would encourage Turkey's own Kurdish rebels, who fought a 15-year war for autonomy in southeast Turkey.

"If there is instability next door, we can't keep our eyes closed," Gen. Yasar Buyukanit, the deputy chief of general staff, said Sunday.

With American military manpower stretched thin, the United States is looking to a number of countries to send troops to Iraq and relieve some of its burden. Washington has requested troops from India, Pakistan, Germany and others.

Turkey has several thousand soldiers in northern Iraq to chase the Turkish Kurdish fighters. Those troops fall outside the scope of the US-led mission.

(China Daily August 13, 2003)