Turkey seeks to host rapid intervention force for Balkans

[ozgurluk at xs4all.nl]

   ANKARA, March 16 (AFP) - Turkey wants to set up a multi-national  
rapid intervention force for the troubled Balkans region to deal 
with crisis situations, a top Turkish general said Monday. 
   Military officials and diplomats from the United States,  
Bulgaria, Macedonia, Romania and Slovenia held a meeting here on 
Monday with Turkish authorities on Ankara's proposal. 
   Turkey's arch rival Greece refused to take part in the meeting,  
a foreign ministry official told AFP. Athens has also recently 
proposed the creation of a similar force. 
   "The creation of this multi-national peace-keeping force for the  
Balkans, that we want to host, will be a milestone for security and 
stability in the whole region," General Cevik Bir, deputy chief of 
the Turkish general staff, told the meeting of visiting foreign 
teams. 
   "Today's meeting is the first concrete development toward the  
formation of this force," the foreign ministry official said. 
   The move came amid renewed concern over security in the Balkans  
as Serb authorities continue their crackdown on ethnic Albanians in 
the southern Yugoslav region of Kosovo. 
   Turkish officials said the initiative had no direct link with  
the Kosovo crisis and dated back to last year. 
   If the Turkish proposal is endorsed, it is suggested that a  
multi-national brigade of between 3,000 and 5,000 troops from the 
United States and several Balkan countries would be based at Edirne, 
a town in eastern Turkey near the Bulgarian and Greek borders. 
   The force would be created under the Partnership for Peace  
program, which was formed after the former Soviet Union's collapse 
in 1991 to coordinate cooperation between NATO allies and former 
communist states. 
   "Today's meeting is not aimed at forming an alliance against a  
third side, but seeks to share an understanding to get organised to 
support regional and world peace," Bir said. 
   But analysts said the Turkish initiative was likely to face  
opposition from Greece, which also is interested in hosting such a 
force. 
   Greek government spokesman Dimitris Reppas said in Athens on  
March 10 that Defence Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos had written to a 
number of regional countries and the United States, calling for a 
Balkans rapid intervention military force. 
   Reppas said Tsohatzopoulos had written "15 to 20 days ago" to  
Albania, Bulgaria, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Italy, 
Romania, Slovenia, and the United States about the idea. Greece is 
ready to host the force, he said. 
   "Although Turkey favours Greece's inclusion into the process,  
Athens wants to bypass Ankara. That's the summary of Turkish-Greek 
relations," the Turkish foreign ministry official said. 
   Although they are both members of NATO, Turkey and Greece are  
involved in a number of disputes over the Aegean Sea's sovereignty 
and the Cyprus problem. 
   Ankara says it has historical responsibilities toward the  
Balkans as the area was part of the Turkish Ottoman empire for 
centuries. 
   Turkey gave diplomatic support to Bosnian Moslems and Croatia  
against the Serbs during the wars in former Yugoslavia between 1991 
and 1995. 
   Turkish officials have called for a peaceful solution to the  
Kosovo crisis that respects Yugoslavia's territorial integrity but 
which also recognises autonomy for the Albanians. 
  	   	

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