Turkish troops continue to deploy towards Iraqi border

(7 Mar 2003) 1. Wide of Bamarni airport near Turkish-Iraqi border 2. Turkish troops washing a tank 3. Various of the Turkish military positions along the border 4. Closer shot of soldiers working on tanks and armoured personnel carriers 5. Various of hill-top military buildings and dug-in tank positions 6. Wide of the airport 7. More of Turkish positions along the frontier 8. Various shots of the base from the Iraqi border STORYLINE: Turkey ordered large convoys of military equipment to be sent to its border with northern Iraq, the country's largest military commitment yet to reinforce the region before a possible US-led attack on Saddam Hussein's regime. The move comes amid increasing tensions between Turkey and Iraqi Kurds who live in the autonomous zone across the border in Iraq. Turks and Iraqi Kurds are expected be key allies in any US-led war. Turkey has said it will send tens of thousands of troops into northern Iraq if there is a war to depose Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. Turkey says the move aims at preventing a flood of refugees and the creation of a possible cross-border Kurdish state, with Turkish Kurds, if Iraq disintegrates. Turkish tanks dug-in on the border are there to quell insurgency by Turkish Kurdish rebels, but their role could change dramatically if Ankara eased its stand against allowing thousands of US troops along to deploy in the region for a northern offensive against Iraq. At remote Bamarni, where Turkey has maintained a strong military presence and airstrip for the past three years to combat Kurdish guerillas, the troops appeared to be going about routine duties maintaining equipment on Friday. Iraqi troops no longer keep vigil along the mountainous border divide. The area became a semi-autonomous zone controlled by ethnic Kurds after the last Gulf War in 1991. Turkish troops took over a number of Iraqi positions including the Bamarni airport when Saddam Hussein's forces were withdrawn from the area. It's thought that the US may utilise the remote airstrip and others beings constructed within the Kurdish controlled areas to airlift troops and supplies in for a lightning raid south to secure the massive Kirkuk oil fields. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...