Jordan's foreign minister on Tuesday implicitly criticized Turkey's decision to send troops into their joint neighbor Iraq.

Marwan al-Muasher, speaking after talks in Luxembourg with Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, said Jordan welcomed the deployment of multi-national peacekeeping forces in Iraq, but made clear this should not extend to neighbors.

Turkey voted last week to send troops to Iraq at the request of the United States. Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul was quoted as saying in Malaysia on Tuesday they would stay for no longer than a year.

Muasher did not name Turkey directly, but was unambiguous.

"We do not think the introduction of forces by neighboring countries is particularly helpful," he told a news briefing.

"The Iraqis themselves have made that point clear many times and it is why Jordan, for example, did not send peacekeeping troops to Iraq and chose instead to train Iraqi security officers in Jordan."

Jordan has offered to train 30,000 Iraqi police on its own soil.

"We believe that neighboring states should refrain from sending in military troops to that country," he added.

Ankara's stand has been controversial at home and in Iraq.

Northern Iraq has a large Kurdish population, as does the bordering southeastern area of Turkey, and many fear Turkey's real aim is to nip in the bud any moves towards an independent Kurdish state.

Turkey's parliament refused permission for US and other forces to enter Turkey and use it as a springboard for invading Iraq in this year's war to oust Saddam Hussein from Baghdad.

(China Daily October 15, 2003)