July 9 (Bloomberg) -- Turkey warned the U.S. that its troops will fire back at U.S. soldiers if another attempt is made to arrest Turkish soldiers in Iraq, Milliyet daily reported, without saying how it obtained the information.

Turkish Military Chief of Staff Hilmi Ozkok issued the warning during a meeting yesterday with General James Jones, the U.S. commander in Europe, Milliyet said.

Jones visited Ankara for two hours yesterday after Ozkok called the detention of Turkish soldiers by U.S. forces last weekend a ``crisis of confidence'' between the two allies. The 11 Turkish soldiers, who were detained by U.S. forces in northern Iraq Friday on suspicion they were involved in an alleged plot to harm Iraqi officials, were released Sunday.

Turkey has thousands of troops in parts of northern Iraq to prevent Kurds from Turkey who have set up bases in Iraq from establishing an independent Kurdish homeland. Some analysts have said the U.S. probably wants Turkish troops out of Iraq. Relations between Turkey and the U.S. have been strained since before the start of the war because Turkey refused to allow the U.S. to use Turkish bases to stage the attack against Iraq.

(Milliyet 7-9, 1)

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Last Updated: July 9, 2003 02:27 EDT