STAR- Columnist Zeynep Gurcanli writes on the reasons why Turkey can’t afford to say ‘no’ to a US operation in Iraq. A summary of her column is as follows:
The US is trying to win international support for a US operation in Iraq and the ousting of Saddam Hussein’s regime. But the only support it has managed to drum up, so far, is Britain’s. All of Iraq’s neighbors as well as countries in the region are opposed to such an operation. In fact the European countries are also against the idea of US intervention. The only exception is Turkey. Actually, Turkey doesn’t want an operation either. Now that the PKK terror is over, for Turkey, the ‘de facto’ situation in northern Iraq is acceptable. By contrast, no one knows what the overthrow of the Iraqi regime would lead to. That’s why Foreign Minister Sukru Sina Gurel spends most of his time working on a solution to the Iraqi problem. Last week he went to Jordan to speak with an Iraqi state minister and then flew to Iran, another country dead set against a US operation. Again last week Iraq’s trade minister visited Turkey to talk about increasing economic cooperation. In addition, Syrian Prime Minister Miro is also expected to come to Turkey to hold talks on the same issue. So if all the countries in the region are against a US operation, why isn’t Turkey raising its voice to the US in opposition? The answer is simple: Turkey has no room for political maneuvering due to the struggle with its financial crisis. All the agreements with the IMF and World Bank were concluded with US Treasury approval. If Turkey doesn’t get out of this financial crisis, again, the country to save Turkey will be the US. That explains why it is difficult for Turkey to openly oppose a US operation. I have to point out here that even Syria, which is even less developed than Turkey, has a clearer attitude on the issue. They can say ‘no’ because they have no economic relations with either the IMF or the World Bank.
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION