Points Of Contention With The U.S.

MILLIYET- Columnist Taha Akyol writes on Turkey’s stance on the Iraq issue and points of contention with the United States. A summary of his column is as follows:
The Turkish government is currently disappointed by the US stance on a number of critical points concerning the Iraq issue. Our government is also concerned about news recently appearing in the US media saying that Turkey was ‘driving a hard bargain’ in order to get the highest possible amount of financial compensation from the Bush administration.
The economy is, of course, very important for any country. The Americans themselves are in fact very canny at bargaining over financial issues. For instance, this provision:
‘The Turkish government should pay the cost of security passes issued to the US personnel authorizing them to enter Turkey’s airbases and ports!’
How much does the production of these cards cost? $10,000.
A superpower is bargaining with Turkey over a paltry $10,000!
There’s no point in criticizing Turkey for pursuing its own national economic interests! Such criticisms are ridiculous!
As a matter of fact, the real points of dispute with the US are not economic but political:
Reconstituting the Iraqi army. Turkey wants Iraq to be a nation with a single united army. However, the US opposes this idea. It’s clear that the US has promised the Iraqi Kurds that they will be able to retain their own armed forces in a postwar period.
Constituent elements in the post-Saddam period. Turkey wants Iraq’s ethnic Turkmen groups to take part in the reconstruction of the nation’s political fabric. However, the Bush administration again opposes this idea. As a matter of fact, it’s evident that Bush doesn’t want to disappoint Iraqi Kurdish leaders such as Barzani and Talabani, who oppose granting Iraq’s Turkmen more political rights in a postwar period.
The lack of a written agreement on political matters. The US accepts the need for a signed agreement with Turkey on economic matters, but on political issues considers a joint declaration to be sufficient, rather than a written agreement signed between the two countries laying out all the details as Turkey wishes.
For these three reasons, our government is balking at backing the US in a military operation against Iraq. The US and Turkey recently found themselves at a political impasse. Then the Turkish government presented another proposal to the Bush administration.
US Ambassador in Ankara Robert Pearson yesterday wanted to meet with Prime Minister Abdullah Gul. However, Gul refused his request. Pearson then met with Foreign Undersecretary Ugur Ziyal. According to diplomatic sources, their meeting was a productive and positive one.
I believe that our government is being skillful in addressing these points of dispute with the US. On the one hand, it’s conducting itself like an independent country in line with its own national interests, and on the other, it’s also trying to protect the US-Turkish strategic partnership without harming the our bilateral friendship. It seems to me that Turkey and the US will reach an agreement very soon now.

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