Turkey should 'expand role in Afghanistan'

ANKARA (AFP) - Turkey should expand the mandate of its troops in Afghanistan and play a bigger part in the fight against terrorism, NATO's secretary general said in remarks published Wednesday in the Turkish press.

"Of course it is up to the (NATO) allies to decide how they contribute" to operations in Afghanistan, Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in an interview with the Milliyet newspaper. But sending combat troops to the country would be welcome.

"It would be met with great satisfaction," he said.

Turkey has deployed some 730 infantry soldiers to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) but their mission is restricted to the capital Kabul and its surrounds.

Turkey, a Muslim member of NATO, has indicated that it might increase its military contingent in Afghanistan, but only if they remain in Kabul.

It says its effort should be aimed at other aspects, such as training Afghan security forces and providing assistance in the fields of health and education.

Rasmussen believes that having Muslim soldiers in the front line against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan would help convince other Muslim nations that the operations "are not a religious war but a struggle against terrorism."

Rasmussen, who assumed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's top job this month, is scheduled to arrive in Ankara on Thursday as part of a tour of NATO capitals.

"I want to build closer ties with our allies within the framework of our alliance," Rasmussen said.

Ankara had opposed the former Danish prime minister's candidacy over his vehement defense of a Danish newspaper's decision to publish satirical cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in 2005 that sparked anger among Muslims across the world.

On Thursday night he is scheduled to take part in an Iftar feast -- the evening meal breaking the Ramadan fast -- with the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Meanwhile Greece on Wednesday reaffirmed its willingness to cooperate with Turkey within the NATO alliance.

"It is paradoxical that Greece and Turkey can stand side by side on NATO missions in Afghanistan and Somalia and not cooperate," foreign ministry spokesman Grigoris Delavekouras said ahead of Rasmussen's visit to Athens.

"We must solve this issue but the heart of the problem is Turkey's refusal to recognize a European Union country," he said, referring to Cyprus.

On Tuesday, Rasmussen had said bilateral problems between Greece and Turkey were affecting alliance efforts in Afghanistan and Africa.

Ankara refuses to recognize the government of the Greek Cypriot-run Republic of Cyprus as having sovereignty over the whole island as the Turkish Cypriots have a breakaway statelet in the north.