TURKIYE- Columnist Yilmaz Oztuna comments on the European Union and Turkey, and a possible operation against Iraq. A summary of his column is as follows:
The government to be established after Nov. 3 will probably be a coalition government. Besides the economic crisis, it will have to deal with two vital problems for Turkey: its European Union bid and Iraq. The US President George W. Bush is trying to convince the Congress (the Senate and the House of Representatives) for an operation against Iraq. He is likely to get result from this move, as 65% of the American people want Hussein Saddam to be overthrown. What is more, America is in pursuit of seizing the control and distribution of the Iraqi oils. The American people, who were hurt and who were hit on their pride due to the Sept. 11 attacks, is ready for attacking any country, person or nation that is shown as an enemy and target.
The US doesn’t want to swoop down Iraq by itself. It knows the inconvenience of being against the whole world and than come into action, in spite of its allies. The strongest allies of it, such as the German chancellor and the French president, have previously stated that they didn’t favor a war against Iraq. Even Britain, which the closest one to the US, doesn’t support this war. Even it can be said that Europeans request that Saddam should be left alone. They are afraid of being at odds with the Arab world.
The general tendency is towards reaching a decision on Iraq at the United Nations and the Security Council, just as in the Gulf War. However, it’s almost impossible to by-pass such countries as China, Russia and France, who have the right of veto at the Security Council. In order to convince them, serious reasons are necessary, for example, confirmation of Saddam’s relation with the international terrorism, Iraq’s occupation of a neighboring country or its destruction of its own citizens in masses. In addition, the European Union came into action as well. It wants Saddam’s weapons in Iraq to be controlled unlimitedly through the UN. This way Washington will be forced to give up its plans for an operation against Iraq. However, if Saddam rejects it, the decision of the US will become firmer.
It’s most likely for the US to carry out an operation against Iraq until the New Year’s Day with the limited support of such countries as Turkey. Turkey will be the one who will be affected by this operation the most. Let’s repeat what I wrote at the beginning: The new government to be established in November will find itself in the middle of the Iraq and the EU issues, in addition to the problem of the economic crisis. In order to overcome these problems, not a weak, but a strong and capable government and Parliament are needed.
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION