Chief of Staff Hilmi Ozkok's remarks came amid warnings in the Turkish media that the row over the arrest of Turkish troops was threatening to undermine Turkish-US ties, already strained over Ankara's refusal to back the war in Iraq.

The 11 soldiers from Turkey's special forces were arrested on July 4 in Sulaymaniyah, in Kurdish-held northern Iraq, triggering a fresh wave of anger in Turkey towards Washington.

They were taken first to Kirkuk and then on to Baghdad before being released late Sunday after "vigorous representations" by top Turkish government officials to the US administration.

"Unfortunately, this incident has led to the biggest crisis of confidence between Turkish and US forces, and has turned into a crisis," Ozkok told reporters as he received the US ambassador to Ankara, Robert Pearson, who is leaving Turkey at the end of his term.

Some 100 US soldiers, accompanied by local Kurdish security forces, attempted to break into the building of the (Turkish) special forces by force, but were invited in by Turkish troops as forces of an allied country, Ozkok said.

"Once they (the US forces) were inside, the staff were prevented from carrying out their duties, a lot of equipment was damaged and some was seized in a manner which we still cannot understand or accept," he added.

General Ozkok said he believed the arrest of the soldiers was not the result of a "US army policy", but expressed doubt that it was of a local nature.

"Considering the senior status of the people we contacted and the amount of the time before the soldiers' release, I find it difficult to evaluate this merely as a local incident," he said.

US officials said the troops were detained along with other suspects on "suspicion of involvement in an alleged plot to harm Iraqi civilian officials in northern Iraq."

Turkish media reports have suggested that the Turkish troops were arrested because of a tip-off relating to a possible plot to assassinate the Kurdish governor of Kirkuk.

"I do not know what the intelligence was, but it is totally unacceptable that intelligence be investigated in this manner," Ozkok said.

"We accord importance to Turkish-US ties and relations between the US and Turkish armies..., but another thing just as important as these ties is our national honour and the honour of the Turkish armed forces," he said.

The Turkish army has already made its displeasure known -- it has withdrawn two high ranking officers serving with US central command in Tampa, Florida, and a top general cancelled a visit to Tampa to attend a handover ceremony.

Ambassador Pearson, meanwhile, tried to downplay the crisis.

"The most important thing we need to remember is that we are and will remain allies," he told reporters, the Anatolia news agency said.

But the Turkish press seemed to think otherwise.

"By acting this way, The US has lost even its best friends in Turkey," an editorial in the mass-circulation Hurriyet said. "It will not be easy in the least to erase the marks of this incident."

The liberal Radikal daily said the row could spell the "definite end" to the strategic partnership between Ankara and Washington.

"What is logical is to give up on the desire to re-establish the strategic partnership and find ways to stay friends. There is an urgent need to redefine Turkish-US ties," it said.

Turkish and US officials are to jointly investigate the detention incident.

Turkey dealt a major blow to US war plans in Iraq when its parliament refused to allow US troops to invade neighbouring Iraq from the north.

Turkey's plans to send troops to Kurdish-held northern Iraq during the war also strained transatlantic ties. Ankara refrained from intervening only after strong pressure from Washington.

All rights reserved. Copyright 2003 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.

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