MILLIYET- Columnist Fikret Bila writes on Turkey’s stance on the Iraq issue. A summary of his column is as follows:
There is no point in criticizing Turkey’s reluctant stance on the Iraq issue. Since Turkey opposes a war in the region, bargaining over the price of cooperation is under way in earnest. In exchange for the use of its territory by US troops, our government is asking for significant economic help to ensure there’s no repeat of the economic recession that followed the 1991 Gulf War.
Although the Bush administration, which has failed to win international legitimacy for an Iraq military operation, is expected to develop a new strategy to ease Turkey’s justifiable concerns, it is still pursuing an unreliable Iraq policy and failing to satisfy either the Turkish government or Chief of General Staff’s Office. Consequently, Turkey and the US have recently found themselves in a political wrestling match.
It’s very clear that both Turkey’s government and its people strongly oppose a US-led war against Iraq. Our government is currently striving hard to arrive at a peaceful solution to the crisis. Although the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) also doesn’t want a war to be waged against Saddam Hussein, it believes that Turkey must take part in a US-led operation, if such is inevitable. Ankara will cooperate with Washington provided the Bush administration satisfies Ankara's main demands such as blocking the establishment of a Kurdish state in northern Iraq and compensating Turkey’s economic losses in the event of war. In other words, Turkey this time wants to take every possible measure to avert economic and political crisis within its borders. However, our government is currently irked with the Bush administration because of its close relations with Iraqi Kurdish Democratic Party (IKDP) leader Massoud Barzani, who recently made hostile remarks against Turkey. On the other hand, the Bush administration is also concerned about Turkey’s reluctant and extremely cautious stance. US President George W. Bush has not yet held a meeting with Prime Minister Abdullah Gul. However, the White House has already been visited by Justice and Development Party (AKP) leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Foreign Minister Yasar Yakis and State Minister for the Economy Ali Babacan. Why did the Bush administration choose to meet with these figures instead of our prime minister? Maybe it’s concerned about Gul’s cautious stance. We all know that Gul is more reluctant than Erdogan on backing a US-led Iraq war.
It’s clear that there is a lack of confidence between the two countries, and here lies a real problem.