Turkish Army Flexes Muscles on Iraq, Cyprus

[Flagg]

Turkish Army Flexes Muscles on Iraq, Cyprus


By Asli Kandemir and Zerin Elci

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey's powerful military flexed its muscles Friday, saying an ethnic-based federation in neighboring Iraq would be "difficult and bloody" and slamming U.S. forces there for failing to clamp down on Kurdish rebels.

At a rare news conference, a top general also said the military backed a peace deal for Cyprus before the split island joins the European Union in May, but warned this would be hard.

"If there is a federal structure in Iraq on an ethnic basis, the future will be very difficult and bloody," General Ilker Basbug, the number two at the General Staff, told reporters, adding that a federation based on geography would be better.


http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=G3QVU1Q50MFVQCRBAE0CFFA?type=worldNews&storyID=4141955