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Turks Lean Toward Sending Troops For UNIFIL

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  • Turks Lean Toward Sending Troops For UNIFIL

    TURKS LEAN TOWARD SENDING TROOPS FOR UNIFIL
    Compiled by Daily Star staff

    Daily Star - Lebanon
    Aug. 28, 2006

    Cabinet has approved move in principle, will ask parliament to ratify

    The Turkish government agreed in principle on Monday to contribute
    troops to an expanded United Nations Interim Force in South Lebanon
    (UNIFIL). "The issue of the UN peacekeeping force was discussed and
    it was decided in principle that we participate in the mission,"
    Justice Minister Cemil Cicek told reporters after a cabinet meeting.

    NATO member Turkey has good ties with both Israel and the Arab
    states. The United States, Israel and Lebanon have all urged Ankara
    to take part in the peacekeeping force. The Turkish government will
    ask Parliament to reconvene this week or next to approve the troop
    deployment, but no details of its size were revealed Monday.

    The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) is keen to boost
    Turkey's role in the Middle East but has been concerned about the
    UN force's rules of engagement. Some AKP lawmakers are worried that
    Turkish troops may be asked to help disarm Hizbullah and could get
    dragged into the conflict with Israel.

    However, the Tashnak Party, which represents many members of the
    Armenian community in Lebanon, reiterated its opposition to Turkish
    participation.

    During a visit to the Cypriot and French embassies in Beirut, a
    delegation from the party said the Armenians in Lebanon "rejected
    the presence of the Turkish Army in Lebanon." It also submitted
    documentation of the military and strategic alliance between Turkey
    and Israel.

    Also Monday, the Italian Cabinet approved the deployment of 2,500
    troops to join the expanded UNIFIL. It also approved a $38 million
    aid package for Lebanon.

    UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has asked Italy to command the Lebanon
    force as of February 2007, when France's term is set to expire.

    http://www.dailystar.com.lb

    Italian General Fabrizio Castagnetti will head the mission's new
    strategic command center from the peacekeeping department at UN
    headquarters in New York.

    The Italian decision also authorized a $240 million budget for 2006
    operations.

    "In the coming hours we will initiate the complex logistics for
    the deployment of the Italian forces," Foreign Minister Massimo
    D'Alema said.

    The Italian Defense Ministry had said earlier in the day that a naval
    task force was already being assembled to transport some 1,000 troops
    to Lebanon, including marines and engineering corps specialists.

    The task force, led by the aircraft carrier Giuseppe Garibaldi, is
    scheduled to set sail Tuesday and reach the Lebanese coast on Friday.

    Spain is also preparing to send troops to Lebanon. Spanish Defense
    Minister Jose Antonio Alonso will go before Parliament next week
    to explain his government's possible contribution to the emerging
    international peacekeeping force in Lebanon, the ministry said Monday.

    Alonso will make his case on September 7, but it is not yet known if
    there will be a vote the same day, the ministry said.

    The Socialist government of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero
    is reportedly considering sending up to 1,000 troops to the new force
    being created to monitor a buffer zone in South Lebanon after 34 days
    of war. - With agencies
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