ANKARA, Feb 23 (AFP) - US warplanes relentlessly pound Istanbul and Ankara, killing hundreds, while the rest of the country is in flames: Washington has just launched operation "Metal Storm" against its former ally, Turkey.
The futuristic novel of the same name by two young Turkish writers has sold more than 100,000 copies since it came out in December -- a huge run in a country where most books get printings of a few thousand at best.
"Metal Storm" also seems to be riding a wave of strong anti-US sentiment in this country sparked by the 2003 invasion of Iraq, which resulted in unprecedented tensions between the two NATO allies.
The novel, set in May 2007, begins when Turkish troops deployed in northern Iraq, to protect the ethnic Turkish Turkmen community there, come under attack from US forces.
A huge disinformation campaign launched by Washington has people believing that the Turks fired first, while the true aim of the United States is to seize Turkey's rich borax mines, which account for 60 percent of the world's boron production.
Turkey's major cities come under heavy fire, with huge loss of human life, while Ankara, taken completely by surprise, turns to the European Union and Russia for help.
Critics have panned the book's literary merits and explain its success solely by current strains in ties between the United States and Turkey.
Bilateral relations, forged in the Cold War years, suffered a major blow two years ago when the Turkish parliament, dominated by the governing Justice and Development Party (AKP), refused the US permission to open a northern front in Iraq through southeast Turkey.
Since then, despite repeated assurances from both sides that the "strategic partnership" is as strong as ever, the chill between Washington and Ankara has been evident.
After a recent visit here, US Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith warned, according to the Turkish media, that the partnership between the two countries would not survive unless Ankara took steps to defuse the anti-US sentiment among its population.
Turkish newspapers, analysing "Metal Storm"'s success, say the novel has found a strong readership among politicians -- notably among the AKP, some of whose members have termed US military actions in Iraq "genocide" -- and high-ranking soldiers.
The book's authors -- science-fiction buff Orkun Ucar and Burak Turna, an ex-journalist specializing in defense issues -- do not conceal their opposition to US policy and say their plot is not as far-fetched as it seems.
"This novel is not just another conspiracy theory -- it is a possibility theory," Turna said in a recent interview with a weekly magazine.
"The United States today has a crusader mentality," Ucar added. "The Americans today are just like the crusaders who seized Jerusalem centuries ago."
In any case, anti-Americanism sells.
The book's publishers, Timas, have just ordered a fresh run of 50,000 copies, according to company spokeswoman Yasemin Nak.
Why does she think the book is so popular?
"Because," she said, "it appeals to the subconscious of the Turkish reader."
02/23/2005 13:01 GMT - AFP