CUMHURIYET- Columnist Yalcin Dogan writes on Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s policies. A summary of his column is as follows:
The message Saddam sent to Prime Minister Ecevit last week demonstrated that he was going to launch new initiatives at any time, and he warned Turkey thusly. Even though the letter was written in a diplomatic style, Saddam meant to say that the US planes taking off from the Incirlik Airbase were striking Iraq. He indicated that he was not sure how informed the prime minister was as to when they took off from Incirlik or where they went. ‘You are defending the territorial integrity of Iraq, but first you have to put a stop to the flights of the US planes.’ The words may not be the same, but the message is. Saddam is criticizing Ecevit for cooperating with the US. This is the view he has of Turkey. With regards to the world at large, he is halting oil exports for a month. Saddam sees that the circle around him is getting tighter. He is breaking his long silence by cutting off oil exports. Stopping oil exports has nothing to do with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Rather, it concerns Saddam himself. He is trying to loosen the circle tightening around him by imposing the halt on oil exports. However, he doesn’t seem to have received the support he wanted, not even from the Arab world. In fact, during US Vice President Cheney’s visit to the Middle East last month, none of the Arab countries supported US intervention in Iraq. There they stood by Iraq. But now regarding its decision on oil, the Arab countries have left Iraq standing alone. However, the same Arabs may at some later point decide to support him. The Arab world is evaluating the Israeli-Palestinian conflict without taking this prospective war in Iraq into consideration. They believe that this is in fact a US operation aimed at dividing the Arabs. Therefore, it will not be surprising if the Arabs support Saddam’s decision regarding oil. That is to say, it may be an equation, as opposing Cheney means supporting the oil decision. Halting oil exports will increase the oil prices around the world by a few dollars. This brings some cost to Turkey too, but what is important for Turkey is not the cost but the timing. Turkey’s problems are expected to be solved within the coming three months. The first optimistic indication of this expectation came with the recent Treasury sales. Demand for the Treasury bonds exceeded expectations twofold, and then the interest rate fell to a record low. The optimistic economic picture is colored with a political injection, that of the joint visit by Cem and Papandreou to Sharon and Arafat. However harshly Saddam may criticize Ecevit, both the US and EU are assigning the Cem-Papandreou twosome wih mediation. If it is successful, everyone will get some credit. There is no failure, as Sharon is already withdrawing Israel’s forces. The military operation is ending, and it is time for diplomacy.
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION