MILLIYET- Columnist Sami Kohen writes on Turkey’s Iraq policy. A summary of his column is as follows:
Does our government have a official Iraq policy? There are various and even contradictory views on this issue. According to the recent opinion polls, more than 70% of our citizens believe that the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government doesn’t have a concrete Iraq policy. It’s natural for people to think so, since the members of the government and the Foreign Ministry have so far made contradictory remarks on the issue. That’s why people ask themselves which one represents our country’s official policy.
We should accept that Turkey is today facing a true dilemma. Turkey’s geopolitical importance, which has always been presented to us as a great advantage for our country, is in fact the main culprit behind our current dilemma. It’s understandable that the AKP-led government is being so hesitant to develop a definite official Iraq policy. There are various factors, such as our geopolitical position, political ties and the economy, hindering the AKP government from giving a straight answer to US demands. That’s why our government has preferred to adopt more flexible tactics rather than developing a definite policy.
The AKP government has based its ever-changing tactics on a number of main points: Turkey doesn’t want a war to be waged in the region. The Turkish government is determined to do its utmost to protect Iraq’s territorial integrity. In addition, our government believes that an Iraq war should have legitimate reasons as recognized by the international community. These are the basic elements of Turkey’s Iraq policy.
It seems that our government is on the one hand launching every possible initiative to protect peace in the region, and on the other hand drawing up strategies to be implemented in case of war. Although for the time being we aren’t able to give definite answers to all US demands since the northern Iraq issue is extremely sensitive for us, our government is striving hard to reach an agreement with US officials. For instance, the US military officials will conduct inspections at our bases to help their Turkish counterparts modernize their equipment. It seems that Turkey is giving the green light to the US. Our government will probably authorize the US military officials to deploy troops at our bases during a possible Iraq war.”
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION