BAGHDAD, Dec 20 (Reuters) - Iraq condemned Turkey on Wednesday for extending the
mandate of U.S. and British aircraft that patrol a no-fly zone over northern Iraq.

Turkey's parliament on Sunday extended for a further six months the mandate of the force,
based at the Incirlik air base in southern Turkey.

A foreign ministry spokesman in a statement carried by the Iraqi news agency INA said
Turkey was "fully responsible for the damage caused by these forces which use Turkish
territory to launch aggression against Iraq."

He said Iraq had asked the Turkish government to end the mandate of the U.S. and British
force.

Northern Watch planes patrol the skies of northern Iraq, outside Baghdad's control since the
end of the 1991 Gulf War, to protect Kurds from any attack by forces loyal to Iraqi
President Saddam Hussein.

The operation, previously known as Provide Comfort, was renamed Northern Watch
following the withdrawal of French aircraft at the end of 1996.

Turkey has been a major outlet for Iraqi oil to world markets since Iraq resumed its oil
exports in 1996 under an oil- for-food deal with the United Nations to buy food and
medicine for Iraqis, hard hit by U.N. sanctions imposed for Baghdad's 1990 invasion of
Kuwait.
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The Kurdistan Observer
www.kurdistanobserver.com

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