BY OKTAY EKSI (HURRIYET)
Columnist Oktay Eksi comments on Turkish-US relations and US Secretary of State Colin Powell’s visit to Ankara yesterday. A summary of his column is as follows:
We all know that Turkish-US relations took a nosedive last month after our Parliament rejected a proposal to allow US troop deployment here for a front into northern Iraq. Everybody knows that US Secretary of State Colin Powell’s visit wouldn’t by itself suffice to mend these badly damaged ties. However, it could serve to clear the atmosphere and then prepare a foundation to put our long-term relations back on track. What’s more, if it meets the expectations of Turkey and the US, our bilateral problems would be solved.
For example, the US said to Turkey the following:
1. Rest assured, no Kurdish state will be established.
2. Mosul and Kirkuk won’t fall into Kurdish hands, and the US will keep the Kurds in the north under control. They won’t be given heavy weaponry.
3. A joint committee will be established for coordination in northern Iraq.
4. Resurgent PKK-KADEK terrorism won’t be tolerated.
5. Turkey will take an active part in Iraq’s reconstruction.
6. There won’t be any reduction in or conditions attached to $1 billion in aid proposed for Turkey.
7. A refugee flood in northern Iraq will be prevented.
8. Turkish contractors and the purchase of Turkish construction materials will be given priority in Iraq’s reconstruction.
I wish the following article had been added to the above-mentioned conditions: ‘The Bush administration won’t allow passage of a proposal brought to the US Congress every April to recognize the so-called Armenian genocide.’ However, certainly that issue wasn’t taken up or it was discussed but Powell made no concrete promise.
In turn, as part of our pledges to Powell, we have to do the following:
1. Turkey won’t send its forces into Iraq alone.
2. US planes in distress will be able to make landings on Turkish territory.
3. US planes in northern Iraq will be given transit permission in terms of fuel, food and humanitarian aid.
4. If US troops fighting in northern Iraq encounter difficulties, they will be able to use Turkish land for search and rescue operations.
If this is the consensus reached during Powell’s visit, then we must congratulate the government.

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