CUMHURIYET- Columnist Mustafa Balbay writes on a possible war against Iraq and Turkey’s stance on the issue. A summary of his column is as follows:
Before we went on our Feast of the Sacrifice (Kurban Bayram) holiday, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government declared that Turkey would cooperate with the United States in case of war in Iraq. But it has begun wavering, as the US seems to prefer not to genuinely cooperate with our country but instead merely to use it in a possible war against Saddam Hussein.
The AKP government seems quite assured that the US is Turkey’s strategic partner, whereas Washington thinks that Turkey is a country which will automatically rubberstamp every US request. A very complicated situation indeed…
The government said before the holiday that it would put a proposal before Parliament on tomorrow, Feb. 18, regarding a US request to station its troops in Turkey for a possible northern offensive into Iraq. The US interpreted this as a ‘go-ahead’ message and put its military plans into work as if Parliament had already approved the proposal. Moreover, because it knew very well that the AKP’s grassroots were opposed to a war in Iraq, the Bush administration said, ‘We’re so pleased that your Parliament will discuss the proposal on Feb. 18. Turkey is a good ally to be trusted,’ which meant, ‘This is just what I was expecting. And because you have made such a binding statement, I want you to move forward. Don’t even think about using some silly excuse and changing your mind.’
Foreign Minister Yasar Yakis and Economy Minister Ali Babacan returned home yesterday from a trip to Washington to secure US compensation of Turkey’s economic losses in the event of a war. Yet what both men said at the airport showed that no agreement on the issue had been reached. In the wake of these developments, Parliament is not very likely to discuss the proposal tomorrow.
Just as in our relations with the US, Turkey is also in a situation where it cannot clearly see the future course of relations with Europe. NATO has been experiencing very trying times to decide on using its assets to protect Turkey in case of war. Germany, France and Belgium have held that Turkey is not under threat of attack from Iraq.
A clear, unified stance on the Iraq crisis must be put together, one shared by all the top levels of the state –- the government, president, General Staff, etc. Otherwise, Turkey will stumble in its efforts to take the proper path amidst this fog of war.
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION