From: clarinews@clarinet.com (SEVA ULMAN)
Newsgroups:
 clari.news.gov.international,clari.news.military,clari.news.trouble,clari.news.
 europe
Subject: Turkey planning to send 500 troops to Somalia
Keywords: international, non-usa government, government, military,
        starvation, trouble
Date: 7 Dec 92 17:46 GMT
Location: somali republic, turkey
ACategory: international
Slugword: somalia-turkey
Priority: regular
Format: regular
ANPA: Wc: 473; Id: a1165; Sel: na--i; Adate: 12-7-1240pes
Codes: &igfrxx., &im.rsq., &ibhrtu., tncn...., //na--i/, na--i


        ANKARA, Turkey (UPI) -- Turkey is planning to send a contingent of 500
troops to Somalia to participate in a U.N.-sponsored military operation
aimed at protecting food deliveries to an estimated 2 million starving
people, officials said Monday.
        Ankara's decision came in response to a message from U.S. Acting
Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger asking Turkish Foreign Minister
Hikmet Cetin how his government reacted to U.S. plans to send 25,000
troops to Somalia on a humanitarian mission.
        President Bush announced in Washington Friday he had ordered more
than 25,000 U.S. troops to Somalia to protect food deliveries from
warring factions.
        Turkish officials said Ankara's plan to send a contingent of 500
troops to participate in the U.N. effort was subject to approval by the
Grand National Assembly, or Parliament, which was expected to vote on
the decision Tuesday.
        If approved, Turkey will become the second Muslim country after
Pakistan to participate in a U.N. military initiative in Somalia, a
mainly Muslim country.
        A contingent of 500 Pakistani soldiers landed in Somalia earlier, but
were not considered sufficient to protect the food supplies from warring
factions which threaten the supply routes from Mogadishu.
        Before Ankara's decision was announced, Cetin told reporters he hoped
the U.N. initiative in Somalia would be followed by a similar one in
Bosnia-Herzegovina, aimed at stopping the massacre of Muslims in the
former Yugoslav republic.
        Military sources said the Turkish contingent was ready to fly to
Mogadishu at short notice, and the operation could start within hours of
a vote in Parliament.
        U.S. planes already in Turkey would probably be used to fly the
troops to Mogadishu, more than 3,000 miles from Turkey's southern
military airfields, the sources said.
        In Cairo, President Turgut Ozal, on an official visit to Egypt, said
he had asked Bush to take steps toward a similar U.N. initiative in
Bosnia-Herzegovina.
        ``If no measure is taken, we will call a meeting of the Islamic
Conference Organization to take an initiative on the issue,'' Ozal said.
        Ankara's decision to send a contingent of troops to Somalia came as
Prime Minister Suleyman Demirel was on an official trip to the Far East.
        The Istanbul newspaper Cumhuriyet said Cetin got Eagleburger's
message when he was in Tokyo and discussed it with Demirel. The
premier's response was: ``Okay, but the same reaction should be shown
regarding Bosnia,'' Cumhuriyet said.
        In Athens, several crews of a U.S. civilian chartered airline were on
standby to fly U.S. troops to Somalia, aviation sources said. At least
some of the U.S. troops will pass through Greece on their way to the
Horn of Africa, the sources said.