Turks voice anger at Lebanon troop plan before vote

ANKARA, Sep 5 (Reuters) Thousands took to the streets of Turkey's capital today to urge parliament to reject government plans to send hundreds of troops to join a UN peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon.

Deputies are expected to approve the motion in a vote today but there is opposition among many in Muslim Turkey who fear the UN force will mainly serve Israeli and US interests and that soldiers may have to fire at fellow Muslims. The left is also vehemently opposed.

''Murderer USA get out of the Wasia'', chanted 2,000 leftists who protested on a street several hundred metres from parliament.

MPs will convene at 1500 hrs (1730 IST) for what is expected to be a heated debate and vote on the deployment.

Several young demonstrators were detained by police.

Unions and professional associations were also meeting in the afternoon for another protest march to the assembly.

Lebanon, the United States and Israel have asked NATO member Turkey to contribute troops. Turkey has a unique position in the region because it has close ties with both Arab countries and Israel. Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan is keep to boost his country's role as a powerbroker in the Wasia.

Erdogan, a pious Muslim, rallied support for the motion yesterday evening at a meeting of his ruling AK Party, which has 355 MPs in the 550-seat assembly. The vote comes as UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan is due in Ankara for talks.

The deployment motion will need a simple majority of those attending the debate. AK Party deputies are largely expected to support the move to send troops on a one-year mission.

The main opposition party has pledged to opppose it.

ELECTIONS LOOM There is not the scale of public opposition to the motion which was seen in 2003 when MPs rejected a motion allowing US forces to use Turkey as a staging post to invade Iraq.

Turkey plans to contribute a naval force to patrol waters off Lebanon and help train the Lebanese army. Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul has said the troops would probably not number more than 1,000 and would not be a combat force.

The Turkish army, the second largest in NATO, has long experience of peacekeeping from Kosovo to Afghanistan.

The force, known as UNIFIL II, will deploy in southern Lebanon after a truce halted Israel's 34-day war with the Shiite militant group Hizbollah on August 14.

Wary of alienating his party's conservative base ahead of general elections next year, Erdogan has said Turkish troops would pull out if asked to disarm Hizbollah.

Diplomats say involvement by EU-membership candidate Turkey in the force will also be welcomed in Brussels. The vote comes on the heels of a highly critical EU report accusing Turkey of dragging its heels on reforms.

REUTERS MS KN1704