Turkish UN troops due in Lebanon
by Charlie Onians

Agence France Presse — English
October 20, 2006 Friday 1:36 AM GMT

The main contingent of 261 Turkish military engineers is due to land
in Lebanon on Friday to join the enlarged UN peacekeeping operation
policing a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.

Turkey is the first Muslim country to contribute troops to the UN
Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and their arrival comes despite
vocal opposition from the war-ravaged nation’s Armenian community
which accuses the Turks’ Ottoman ancestors of genocide.

A total of 95 personnel will arrive by sea, with the remaining members
due to fly into the Lebanese capital. Muslim nations Bangladesh,
Indonesia, Malaysia and Qatar have also pledged soldiers to the
planned 15,000-strong force, but they have yet to arrive.

The Turkish contingent, which includes 237 soldiers and 24 civilians,
will be stationed at a small village lying seven-and-a-half kilometers
(nearly five miles) southeast of the southern port city of Tyre.

A small initial batch of the engineers, who are due to work mostly
on the reconstruction of roads and bridges, arrived on October 10
but Turkey is not expected to contribute any more ground troops for
the UN force.

Overriding widespread opposition, the Turkish parliament approved
a government motion on September 5 to contribute troops to UNIFIL
following a ceasefire that ended 34 days of fighting in Lebanon.

The Turkish government has said it will contribute a total of 681
troops.

A Turkish frigate is already serving in the German-led naval task
force patrolling the Lebanese coast to prevent arms being smuggled
to the Hezbollah militia, and the navy has said it will also send
two corvettes.

Ankara says participating in UNIFIL will enhance the regional influence
of Turkey. The mainly Muslim state, which has a secular government,
has good ties with Israel and the Arab states.

Parliament authorized the government to send a naval force to patrol
the eastern Mediterranean, deploy land troops for non-combat missions,
help train the Lebanese army and support allied countries in naval
and air transport.

Members of Lebanon’s 140,000-strong Armenian community have staged
several demonstrations in protest at the troop deployment because
Turkey refuses to recognise the 1915-1917 massacres of Armenians by
the Ottomans as genocide.

Turkey says 300,000 Armenians, and at least as many Turks, died in
civil strife when Armenians took up arms for independence and sided
with invading Russian troops as the Ottoman Empire fell apart during
World War I.

Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their ancestors were slaughtered
in orchestrated killings, which they maintain can only be seen as
genocide.