Military

DATE=05/25/2002

TYPE=ON THE LINE

NUMBER=1-01129 SHORT #1

TITLE=TURKEY AND THE WAR ON TERRORISM

INTERNET=Yes

EDITOR=OFFICE OF POLICY 619-0037

CONTENT=INSERTS IN DALET AND AUDIO SERVICES

THEME: UP, HOLD UNDER AND FADE

Host: This is On the Line, and I'm --------.

Turkey has long been a bridge between East and West. A predominantly Muslim nation, Turkey has been part of the NATO alliance for half a century. When the United States was attacked on September 11th, Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said "They were attacks not just against the United States, but against humanity and world peace. The entire humanity must unite against terrorism."

Bulent Aliriza is director of the Turkey Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He says that Turkey responded out of friendship for the U-S and out of Turkey's own experience fighting terrorism.

Aliriza: The support of Turkey in the war against international terrorism [and] its sympathy for the U-S after the terrorist attacks of September 11th were very important. The comments that were made in Turkey, both within the government as well as outside, were that the Western world now understood in the most horrible way possible the kind of thing that Turkey had gone through, and that enhanced the sympathy that Turkey felt for the U-S.

Host: As part of its role in the war on terrorism, Turkey has agreed to lead the multinational peacekeeping force in Afghanistan or ISAF. Helena Kane Finn is a visiting fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. She says Turkey's contribution is both real and symbolic.

Finn: We have such an important NATO ally that happens to be majority Muslim. It refutes the idea that this is a war between the West and Islam [by] the very fact that a majority Muslim nation would be asked to lead the ISAF [International Security Assistance Force]. But it's much more than that. Turkey is a country that has been asked by the international community, by the Western powers, to take this role where it will oversee a crucial operation, ISAF, of eighteen countries. Turkey is going to be in charge for six months, probably starting after the loya jirga, after the elections in Afghanistan, and be in charge of these countries. This is an acknowledgement of the significance of Turkey as a regional power and it's a recognition also that Turkey has found a way to reconcile modernity, secularism, democracy, with the Islamic faith.

Host: Bulent Aliriza says that Turkey would not mind seeing an end to Saddam Hussein's brutal regime in neighboring Iraq. But the possibility of the war on terrorism moving to Turkey's border does cause some nervousness.

Aliriza: Throughout the war against terrorism, since September 11th, the Turks have invariably themselves brought up the issue of expanding it to Iraq. Afghanistan is a long, long way away from Turkey, whereas Iraq is next door.

Host: Helena Kane Finn points out that the United States relies on consultations with Turkey in forming its policy toward Iraq.

Finn: It's very clear the administration [of President George W. Bush] has said that a goal is regime change in Iraq. But we're not at the point yet where we know when, how, what exactly will happen. We have always consulted closely on everything with Turkey -- and we have promised Turkey that we will consult very closely at such a point.

Host: Turkey will continue to be a crucial partner in the war on global terrorism.

Host: For On the Line, I'm -------------.