Turkey's parliament approved a government motion yesterday permitting the dispatch of peacekeepers to neighbouring Iraq as requested by its Nato ally the United States - but Iraqis themselves criticised the move.
A Turkish deployment should help relieve pressure on US forces in Iraq and repair Ankara's traditionally close ties with Washington, strained after parliament rejected plans in March to let US troops attack Iraq from Turkish territory.
But in a sign that deployment might not be smooth, Iraq's US-appointed Governing Council initially said it would reject troops from any neighbouring country. The council later toned down its criticism, speaking only of "concerns" about Turkish troops and saying no formal decision had been made.
Council President Iyad Allawi said the Council would meet Iraq's US governor Paul Bremer today to discuss the issue further.
Many Iraqis oppose a Turkish deployment, not just Kurds in the north of Iraq who are suspicious of Ankara's motives following years of Turkish military conflict with Turkish Kurdish separatist rebels in the border zone.
In closed session, the Turkish parliament backed sending the troops by 358 votes to 183 votes against, shrugging off strong public opposition. Anti-war protesters staged small rallies in Istanbul yesterday evening.
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey had a moral responsibility to help its neighbour and he stressed that any deployment must also bolster Ankara's own security needs.
"One of the most fundamental conditions for Iraq to live in peace and security is for the total clean-up of terrorist organisations... including Turkey's biggest priority, the PKK/KADEK, that are still based in the country," he said.
Some 5,000 fighters from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), also known as KADEK, are believed holed up in the mountains of northern Iraq. Turkey has been pressing Washington to crack down more on the fighters as part of its price for sending troops.
Erdogan signalled there was nothing automatic now about a deployment and that Ankara would try to drive a hard bargain.
"Use of this authorisation will be tied to the results of talks with those involved (the Americans)," he told reporters.
Political analysts said Turkey, which would be the first mainly Muslim nation to commit soldiers, was unlikely to rush.
"The government is not in a hurry to deploy the troops. They will use today's decision as leverage in their negotiations about expenses, the location and even the number of troops," said Sami Kohen, a columnist at the Milliyet daily.
The United States applauded parliament's move, which is also expected to hearten financial markets and remove a shadow over a recently agreed US loan package to Turkey worth $8.5 billion.
"We welcome the step parliament has taken... Turkey would play a helpful role in (contributing to) the stability in Iraq," a US embassy official told Reuters.
Turkish officials have said as many as 10,000 troops could be deployed, probably in the Arab, Sunni-dominated central region of Iraq, not in the mainly Kurdish north.
Turkey sees northern Iraq as part of its sphere of influence and keeps a few thousand troops there to pursue PKK rebels.
Washington has assured Ankara its forces will try to crack down on the PKK, which waged a bloody separatist struggle in southeast Turkey from 1984 in which more than 30,000 people were killed. The PKK, which recently called off a five-year ceasefire, clashed with Turkish soldiers in the southeast late on Monday. One rebel died and three soldiers were wounded in the clash. Fighting continued yesterday.