- ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey's
ruling party moved on Thursday to delay until the weekend a parliamentary
vote on deployment of thousands of U.S. troops in the country, dealing
a blow to U.S. preparations for a possible war against Iraq.
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- Turkish leader Tayyip Erdogan had said on Wednesday the
vote, urgently awaited by the United States, would go ahead on Thursday
barring any unexpected problems -- an apparent reference to talks on a
financial compensation package.
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- But after consultations on Thursday morning his ruling
Justice and Development Party (AKP) applied to delay any debate until Saturday.
Parliament convened to discuss the proposal for a delay, which seemed likely
to pass.
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- The United States is pressing for a quick decision now
on permission for a secondary "northern front" which military
experts say would take pressure off a possible main invasion force pushing
to Baghdad from the south. It had expected a final go-ahead over a week
ago and troopships wait off the coast.
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- "U.S. officials have made the Turkish side aware
at a high level that time is critical and further delay is not helpful,"
a U.S. official said.
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- It was not immediately clear why the AKP sought a delay.
Deputies might want to await a Friday meeting of the powerful National
Security Council, a body that includes the country's top political and
military leadership. There could also be problems sealing a multi-billion
dollar financial aid package.
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- After months of negotiations between Ankara and Washington,
a deal appears close that would give Turkey up to $30 billion in U.S. grants
and loan guarantees to help cushion its frail economy against the impact
of a war it has long resisted.
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- LONG AND TORTUOUS ROAD
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- The road to a vote has been long and tortuous for Turkey
and for the AKP, a party viewed with suspicion by the military for its
Islamist roots.
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- The AKP is reluctant to sacrifice its popularity in a
war many fear could deepen economic crisis and bring chaos to Turkish borders.
But its leaders know Turkey would suffer if it refused to help the United
States and forfeited financial help.
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- Party chiefs expect the measure to pass if they back
it. But if delays continue, U.S. military planners could abandon the northern
front and divert troops waiting off the Mediterranean coast to the Gulf
area.
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- Only hours before the move to delay, Turkish and U.S.
officials sealed a deal on military cooperation which, among other things,
would clarify the role in any war of the Turkish military in largely Kurdish-ruled
northern Iraq.
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- Turkey plans to send up to 40,000 troops into a border
buffer zone 20 km (12 miles) inside Iraq.
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- The issue of their role in the zone -- beyond Baghdad's
control since the 1991 Gulf War -- has been a sensitive one for Ankara.
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- Turkey insists its troops will not become involved in
combat, but will only marshal refugees and safeguard an ethnic Turkish
Turkmen minority in the region.
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- Ankara says it has won assurances that the Kurds of northern
Iraq will not be allowed to make a bid for independence from Iraq or to
control its northern oil fields.
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- Turkey fears a Kurdish breakaway state in northern Iraq
could trigger renewed armed Kurdish separatism on its own territory.
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- Iraqi Kurds repeatedly say they have no intention of
claiming statehood and see a Turkish military presence in their mountainous
enclave as dangerous and unwelcome. Many suspect Turkey wants to crack
down on its own Kurdish rebels based in northern Iraq.
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- Ankara, which closed its Baghdad embassy on Wednesday,
recommended on Thursday that all Turkish citizens leave Iraq.
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- photo credit and caption:
- A Dutch soldier maneuvers his truck carrying a Patriot
missile surface to air defense system next to another missile battery at
the southern port of Iskenderun, Turkey, February 26, 2003. Patriot missile
systems were brought into Turkey from the Netherlands to protect Turkish
air bases from a possible Iraqi strike. Photo by Fatih Saribas/Reuters
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- Copyright 2003 Reuters News Service. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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