Media reports claim United States releasing Turkish soldiers

ISTANBUL, Turkey -- The United States agreed Sunday to release 11 Turkish special forces detained in northern Iraq, a Turkish official said, ending a standoff that strained efforts by the NATO allies to repair relations frayed over the Iraq war.

The Turkish soldiers would spend the night at a guest house in Baghdad and would be handed over to Turkish officials in Sulaymaniyah "at daylight" today, the high-level government official said on condition of anonymity.

The private CNN-Turk and NTV news channels had reported that the soldiers were released in Baghdad. But the official told The Associated Press that security concerns and weather conditions barred them from traveling to Sulaymaniyah Sunday night.

A U.S. official could not confirm the Turkish soldiers' release and the State Department did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment.

The announcement came after a bustle of diplomacy that included telephone calls between Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney as well as another between U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul.

Turkey and the United States also held talks on the return of the Turkish special forces in Sulaymaniyah late Sunday.

The detention of the Turkish special forces Friday in the northern Iraqi city of Sulaymaniyah outraged Turkey and deepened the public's mistrust of the United States.

Turkey has long had thousands of its soldiers in parts of northern Iraq to fight autonomy-seeking Kurdish rebels who have launched attacks against Turkey from bases in northern Iraq.

After the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, it also sent military advisers there to keep watch on Iraqi Kurds. Turkey fears that increasing Kurdish power in northern Iraq could encourage Kurdish rebels to revive fighting in Turkey's predominantly Kurdish southeast.

In the Sulaymaniyah raid, troops from the 173rd Airborne took the Turkish special forces and others into custody over an alleged plot to harm Iraqi civilian officials in the north, a Bush administration official said earlier Sunday.

The official said on condition of anonymity that some had subsequently been released. A total of 24 -- including nine Turkish soldiers -- remained in U.S. custody and had been taken to Baghdad, the official said.

The Turkish official said 11 Turkish soldiers were being handed over on Monday, though it agreed with the American account that a total of 24 people had been detained. The discrepancy could not immediately be explained.

The others being held were Turkmen -- members of Iraq's Turkoman minority, which is related to the Turks -- who worked in the office.

The detentions infuriated many Turks, sparking protests in Istanbul on Sunday. Police fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of nationalists who burned and ripped American flags in a central square. Around 100 leftists also staged a sit-in protest overnight near the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul.

"The ugly American," the daily newspaper Milliyet headlined Sunday.

Ties between Turkey and the United States have been strained since the Turkish parliament refused in March to allow U.S. forces to use the country as a staging ground to invade Iraq.

Now with Saddam Hussein gone, both countries' interests in northern Iraq are seeing frictions. U.S. forces are working with Iraqi Kurds who have gained power in much of the north. Turkey, on the other hand, deeply fears growing Kurdish influence in Iraq, fearing it will encourage Kurdish separatists on its own soil.

Turkey also enjoys close ties with ethnic Turkmen in the northern city of Kirkuk and Turkey is eager to prevent Iraqi Kurdish groups from gaining control of the oil-rich area.

The daily Hurriyet said the raid aimed to foil a Turkish plot to kill an unnamed senior Iraqi Kurdish official in Kirkuk, but Gul has denied any Turkish plot.

Since the fallout over hosting U.S. troops, Turkey has sought to mend ties by easing the flow of humanitarian aid across its territory, offering to send peacekeepers to Iraq, and even opening its bases to the U.S.-led coalition for logistical support.

Gul was also expected to visit to Washington in the coming weeks.

But the detentions appeared to be undoing some of that progress.

On Sunday, a line of vehicles several miles long could be seen at Turkey's border gate with Iraq -- a key transit point for coalition logistical supplies and U.N. aid to Iraq. The gate has been closed since Friday, apparently in retaliation for the detentions.

Turkish news reports, including one Sunday in the daily Milliyet, also said Turkey was considering closing its airspace to United States in protest.

The detentions Friday were the second known run-in between the United States and Turkey in northern Iraq. In April, the U.S. Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade caught a dozen Turkish soldiers, dressed in civilian clothes and trailing an aid convoy.

U.S. forces suspected then that the Turkish team was sent in to inflame local ethnic Turkmen, who already have tense relations with the city's Kurds and Arabs.

In Sulaymaniyah, Turkish and Turkoman officials said Friday's raid targeted a four-building compound of the Turkoman Front compound -- a political party representing Iraq's third-largest ethnic group -- and a nearby Turkish government liaison office.

The Turkish official said 11 Turkish soldiers were being handed over on Monday, though it agreed with the American account that a total of 24 people had been detained. The discrepancy could not immediately be explained.

The others being held were Turkmen -- members of Iraq's Turkoman minority, which is related to the Turks -- who worked in the office.

The detentions infuriated many Turks, sparking protests in Istanbul on Sunday. Police fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of nationalists who burned and ripped American flags in a central square. Around 100 leftists also staged a sit-in protest overnight near the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul.

"The ugly American," the daily newspaper Milliyet headlined Sunday.

Ties between Turkey and the United States have been strained since the Turkish parliament refused in March to allow U.S. forces to use the country as a staging ground to invade Iraq.

Now with Saddam Hussein gone, both countries' interests in northern Iraq are seeing frictions. U.S. forces are working with Iraqi Kurds who have gained power in much of the north. Turkey, on the other hand, deeply fears growing Kurdish influence in Iraq, fearing it will encourage Kurdish separatists on its own soil.

Turkey has long had thousands of its soldiers in parts of northern Iraq to fight autonomy-seeking Kurdish rebels from Turkey who have set up bases there.

After the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, it also sent military advisers there to keep watch on Iraqi Kurds.

Turkey also enjoys close ties with ethnic Turkmen in the northern city of Kirkuk and Turkey is eager to prevent Iraqi Kurdish groups from gaining control of the oil-rich area.

The daily Hurriyet said the raid aimed to foil a Turkish plot to kill an unnamed senior Iraqi Kurdish official in Kirkuk, but Gul has denied any Turkish plot.

Since the fallout over hosting U.S. troops, Turkey has sought to mend ties by easing the flow of humanitarian aid across its territory, offering to send peacekeepers to Iraq, and even opening its bases to the U.S.-led coalition for logistical support.

Gul was also expected to visit to Washington in the coming weeks.

But the detentions appeared to be undoing some of that progress.

On Sunday, a line of vehicles several miles long could be seen at Turkey's border gate with Iraq -- a key transit point for coalition logistical supplies and U.N. aid to Iraq. The gate has been closed since Friday, apparently in retaliation for the detentions.

Turkish news reports, including one Sunday in the daily Milliyet, also said Turkey was considering closing its airspace to United States in protest.

The detentions Friday were the second known run-in between the United States and Turkey in northern Iraq. In April, the U.S. Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade caught a dozen Turkish soldiers, dressed in civilian clothes and trailing an aid convoy.

U.S. forces suspected then that the Turkish team was sent in to inflame local ethnic Turkmen, who already have tense relations with the city's Kurds and Arabs.

In Sulaymaniyah, Turkish and Turkoman officials said Friday's raid targeted a four-building compound of the Turkoman Front compound -- a political party representing Iraq's third-largest ethnic group -- and a nearby Turkish government liaison office

"The Americans say they came to liberate Iraq, instead they've violated our human rights," said Issa Mohsen Qasab, a spokesman for the Turkoman Front. "Without asking permission or letting us know that they were coming, they came and took over all of our offices."

Najmadin Vali, the Turkoman Front's head of planning, who was detained for several hours during the raid, criticized the American troops' behavior during the raid

"I heard a noise outside and went to see what was happening. An American soldier started screaming at me and threw a rock. They entered the compound and started breaking down doors," he said. "They just treated us like terrorists."