- WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The
United States is offering Turkey an economic aid package that includes
about $6 billion in grants and up to $20 billion in loan guarantees in
a bid to secure Ankara's support for an invasion of Iraq, sources familiar
with the offer said on Saturday.
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- President Bush met with Turkish Foreign Minister Yasar
Yakis and others at the White House on Friday, but U.S. and Turkish negotiators
have yet to reach a final agreement that would allow American forces to
use Turkish bases as a springboard for an invasion of Iraq from the north.
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- On top of an estimated $6 billion in grants, the Bush
administration is offering backing for up to $20 billion in loans that
Turkey could secure through private banks. As a condition for U.S. backing,
the United States is demanding that the loans fall under the terms of Turkey's
program with the International Monetary Fund.
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- It is unclear whether Ankara will accept the offer, which
has ballooned in size in recent days. Turkey, which says it suffered massive
economic damage from the first Gulf War, has been pressing Washington for
billions of dollars more.
-
- Once a deal is reached, Bush would submit it to Congress
for approval as part of an emergency wartime budget request.
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- Turkey, which has a 218-mile border with Iraq, is allowing
the U.S. military to modernize some bases there for possible use in a war,
but has not yet given Washington permission to use them for an offensive.
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- The aid package, coupled with a deal to limit the number
of U.S. troops in the country at any one time, could help avoid a backlash
from Turks widely opposed to a war against their fellow-Muslim neighbor.
-
- The Bush administration is finalizing separate multibillion-dollar
aid packages for Israel and Jordan which, like Turkey, say they would need
U.S. grants and loan guarantees to offset the economic shock of military
action to disarm Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
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- An Israeli delegation is due in Washington next week
and hopes to quickly finalize the details of its request for $4 billion
in military assistance and $8 billion in U.S.-backed loan guarantees.
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- Under the Israeli proposal, the United States would deduct
from the face value of the loan guarantees any Israeli expenditures on
settlement activities in Palestinian areas.
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- Washington has promised Jordan more than $1 billion in
aid that could be sent to Congress for approval in coming weeks, officials
said.
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- Egypt is also seeking U.S. help in the form of a free-trade
agreement.
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- U.S. SWEETENS OFFER
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- At close to $25 billion including the loan guarantees,
the Turkish package would be well above the initial U.S. offer of $14 billion,
which included grants and the funds needed to support up to $10 billion
in loans.
-
- The big increase underscores just how important Turkish
basing is to U.S. war-planners.
-
- But it is unclear whether the sweetened offer would win
support in Ankara, which stepped up pressure on Washington during two days
of intense negotiations.
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- On Thursday Prime Minister Abdullah Gul backed away from
a pledge to hold a parliamentary vote on Feb. 18 on whether to let an expected
30,000 U.S. troops use bases in Turkey to invade northern Iraq, saying
the timing of the vote was tied to the negotiations in Washington.
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- The latest U.S. offer is still far below the amount Turkey
was purportedly seeking. According to congressional sources, Ankara at
one point asked Washington for close to $50 billion in aid -- an amount
U.S. officials dismissed as excessive.
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