Will Turkey Get Involved In War?

HURRIYET- Columnist Ferai Tinc comments on Turkey’s possible role in a US-led military campaign against Iraq. A summary of her column is as follows:
Not only Washington, but the Turkish military, too, is urging the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government to make up its mind on the Iraq issue. At a military reception on Wednesday, Gen. Yasar Buyukanit, deputy chief of General Staff, had this to say: ‘The government’s making a decision at once, be it positive or negative, is in our country’s best interests.’ About six months ago the US gave Turkey a ‘wish list’ for a possible military campaign in Iraq, but today the government’s reply is still not clear. That’s why the Bush administration has been sending sharp messages lately, conveying its impatience to get a firm response. There are even signs that the government’s hesitation may adversely affect Turkey’s economy. The US’ basic question to our country is crystal clear: ‘Will you or will you not cooperate and allow us open a northern front?’ This is critical to the course of a prospective US-led military operation on Iraq, in Chief of General Staff Hilmi Ozkok’s apt words: ‘A northern front would be decisive both politically and militarily. With such a front, it would be far quicker and less risky for the US to achieve its goal.’ What this all comes down to is that if Turkey agrees to cooperate on its end, this could even perhaps avert a war, as the US’ deterrent threat against Saddam would be that much higher. Even certain diplomatic analysts believe that Turkey’s current reluctance to clarify its stance could lead Saddam to make deadly miscalculations and thus hasten the dogs of war. Whereas Gen. Buyukanit confines himself to saying, ‘There is a need for deterrent cooperation with the US.’
The expected reply from the AKP government to Washington has so far been confined to getting permission to make necessary inspections at Turkey’s military bases, ones which the US wants to have use of in a possible Iraq operation. But this is just an initial step. Gen. Buyukanit stressed that there remains a need for a more comprehensive decision, one allowing the upgrading of military bases and dispatching Turkish troops to Iraq as well as stationing US soldiers in Turkey. This in turn requires a resolution from Parliament, as the Constitution lays out, yet the government is also reluctant to bring this issue to Parliament’s agenda. Buyukanit underlined another important point about Turkey’s dispatching troops to Iraq, saying that according to recent newspapers reports, the Pentagon doesn’t favor the presence of Turkish troops in Iraq. ‘We aren’t saying, “Let’s go and fight.” Yet no one has ever told us that we can’t join a military campaign,’ he added.
When I reminded Buyukanit of the situation during 1991’s Gulf War, during which the Ozal government was pressing for Turkey to get involved in the war whereas the General Staff was resisting this, a virtual mirror image of the current situation, he told me, ‘In 1991, the situation was completely different. At that time, the US asked Turkey to open a northern front without putting forward any conditions. Their current requests are far more reasonable. We, as the military, want to hold back any possible wave of refugees from northern Iraq before they reach our borders, in order not to repeat the experience Turkey faced during the Gulf War. Moreover, we should assume a role if the country wants to have a say in the post-Saddam period.’
I favor Turkey having that say, but as a mother, I don’t want to send my sons to war. So what comes next?

SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION