Words From The White House

MILLIYET- Columnist Derya Sazak comments on the Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) position in having to make a decision on the Iraq crisis. A summary of his column is as follows:
Here’s the latest twist in the Iraq crisis. Now the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government has to make a decision on permitting US soldiers to ‘pass through the north’ as well as on upgrading Turkey’s airbases and ports. The US is insisting that Parliament make these two decisions before the Feast of the Sacrifice (Kurban Bayram) holiday. US Vice President Dick Cheney called Prime Minister Abdullah Gul this week, stressing, ‘Decisions postponed until after the holiday might delay the US operation at the beginning of March,’ which narrowed the government’s maneuvering room. Our political leadership has been trying to buy time for weeks, but now it’s do or die time.
From the very start, did Turkey have any chance of standing outside the developments in Iraq? Here, we really should give the AKP government its due. The foundations of our Iraq policy were laid before the Nov. 3 elections which brought the AKP to power. Cheney, who urged Gul to make a decision quickly, actually kicked off the process last year when he visited Ankara under the previous government. Last August the US conveyed its request to Ankara to upgrade these airbases and ports and to station US troops in Turkey for a northern front. These requests were discussed during a recent summit chaired by President Ahmet Necdet Sezer. After the Nov. 3 elections, the AKP’s single-handed victory encouraged the US. The US opened up its file on Iraq for AKP leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan when he visited the White House. Clearly, Bush considered Erdogan’s words in Washington to be ‘encouraging.’ Then at December’s European Union Copenhagen summit, everybody saw that Erdogan’s policy of pressure towards Germany and France was quite clumsy. Neither French President Chirac nor German Chancellor Schroeder was convinced concerning Iraq. France’s veto at the UN Security Council, as a permanent member, makes it difficult for the US to convince the UN to make a decision in favor of military action against Iraq.
The US will launch an operation at the beginning of next month. If Ankara doesn’t permit US soldiers to pass into northern Iraq ‘in due time,’ the US strategy is likely to change. That’s why Cheney urged Gul to act quickly. Did Erdogan make ‘irrevocable’ promises to the Bush administration on Iraq? Sources who sat in on the Bush-Erdogan meeting say the AKP leader made no promise that would be binding on Turkey. After listening to Bush, Erdogan said that he would convey the US administration’s view to the government. A written report of the meeting was also delivered to the Foreign Ministry. Now it’s time to make a decision. In Erdogan’s words, ‘Either we’re part of the equation, or we stand outside it.’ This is the government’s difficulty. The Republican People’s Party (CHP) is saying no to war, so the AKP will have to bear this decision by itself. Truly this is a heavy burden.

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