BY FIKRET BILA
MILLIYET- Columnist Fikret Bila comments on Chief of General Staff Gen. Hilmi Ozkok’s weekend statements on the issue of Turkey sending soldiers to Iraq. A summary of his column is as follows:
During a reception in honor of August 30 Victory and Turkish Air Forces Day, Chief of General Staff Gen. Hilmi Ozkok’s indicated that the General Staff favors Turkey sending soldiers to Iraq. Speaking to reporters, Gen. Ozkok compared the issue to the National Lottery. ‘There’s a huge difference between impossibility and possibility,’ he said. ‘No matter how many times you multiply zero, it always equals zero. It’s like a lottery ticket. If you never buy a ticket, you can never win the jackpot. However, if you buy it, you might win. This logic also applies in foreign relations, that is, a wager of zero is very dangerous.’
Ozkok was effectively saying that Ankara should be active in order to protect Turkey’s national interests and have a say in Iraq’s reconstruction. From this starting point, he considers Turkey’s sending soldiers as ‘buying a lottery ticket,’ pointing out that without a ticket, one can’t expect any return. Ozkok’s comparison can be summed up like this: ‘We should go there so we’ll have a place at the table.’ While Ozkok does emphasize the risks, he also knows the risks of not going at all. In other words, the military’s views are clear.
However, the political will should be made clear, and the government and Parliament will do this. This time both Ankara and Washington are being more careful. Military negotiations will start next week, but they will be limited to non-binding exchanges of information. The government and Parliament will have to make a clear decision so this can happen. The military is aware of the difficulty surrounding this issue and it’s also following developments in Iraq which threaten even more instability, for example, conflicts between ethnic groups or religious sects, and difficulty the US is facing establishing security. They know that these conditions make it harder to make a decision. These days are more difficult for Ankara than the days of war.