BY ZEYNEP GURCANLI
STAR- Columnist Zeynep Gurcanli comments on Turkey’s influence in Iraq’s postwar era. A summary of her column is as follows:
The postwar era is slowly being shaped in Iraq. However, Turkey is present in these efforts not in name, but rather in influence. The framework of a ‘multinational peacekeeping force’ was established during a meeting held in London last week. With this force, the soldiers will be divided into three parts in terms of command. British soldiers will work in the south of the country, US soldiers will work in Baghdad and its environs and in the north a multinational force under Polish command will patrol. Plans call for Italian and Spanish troops to be deployed in the region commanded by Britain. The US will have no soldiers from other nations under its command. Troops from Ukraine, Denmark, Bulgaria, the Netherlands and Albania will be in the region under Polish command.
However, Turkey’s name hasn’t been mentioned in their planned peacekeeping force. The initial plans say nothing about soldiers from Turkey. Washington’s disappointment resulting from Parliament’s rejection of US troop deployments back before the war is playing a major role in Turkey’s exclusion from this force. ‘We waited for the United Nations resolution for 52 days,’ said one US official. ‘However, Turkey alone delayed the operation for 48 days, just four less than the delay caused by the UN’s 180 countries.’ The US doesn’t blame only the Justice and Development Party (AKP) for this delay. It emphasizes that the Turkish government wasn’t primarily responsible, but rather the Turkish state. The same official said that the proposal to deploy US troops in Turkey was scheduled for a vote at the National Security Council meeting one Thursday in March, but that then Turkey postponed the meeting. ‘We expected a resolution suggesting acceptance of the proposal,’ he added. ‘However, the military in Turkey preferred not to exercise its influence on the issue.’ Dispelling anytime soon this atmosphere of little confidence in the ‘Turkish state’ hanging over Washington seems a difficult task at best. However, it would be wrong to say that Turkey is being ‘ignored completely,’ even if it was excluded in peacekeeping for Iraq. The US is consulting Turkey concerning the transitional government to be established there. From the very beginning, Turkey has been suggesting that a civilian figure would be best for Iraq’s administration.
Retired Lt. Gen. Jay Garner, who recently called Kirkuk ‘a Kurdish city,’ received Turkey’s protest to this statement and delivered a note on this to Washington immediately. US President George W. Bush decided to appoint a diplomat ‘above’ Garner, namely Ambassador Paul Bremer, who has worked on the war against terrorism throughout his career.
Turkey’s ‘influence’ on the administration to be established in Iraq wasn’t limited to this. Turkey gave a list to the US of moderate Iraqi government figures drawn up on the basis of Turkish officials’ experiences. Now we see the process of Iraq’s reconstruction. If Turkish firms can participate in this process as ‘subcontractors,’ Turkey can overcome somewhat the bad feelings left by the rejected proposal.

SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION