Military

DATE=FEBRUARY 19, 2003

TYPE=INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT

TITLE=YUSUF KANLI / U-S - TURKEY

NUMBER=3-547

BYLINE=VICTOR BEATTIE

DATELINE=WASHINGTON

INTERNET=

/// Editors: This interview is available in Dalet under SOD/English News Now Interviews in the folder for today or yesterday ///

HOST: Turkey's government has put off a parliamentary vote permitting the deployment of thousands of U-S troops in Turkey, in preparation for a possible war with neighboring Iraq. Turkey's Prime Minister, Abdullah Gul, says without an acceptable economic aid package, parliament will never allow U-S troops to be stationed in Turkey. Reports say Turkey is asking for up to 50-billion dollars in U-S loans and grants -- more than twice as much as the Bush administration originally offered.

Yusuf Kanli is the editor of the English language "Turkish Daily News" in Ankara. Mr. Kanli expects intensified negotiations between Turkey and the United States and he expects a deal to be placed before parliament by Thursday at the earliest or next Tuesday at the latest.

He expresses concern over a month-long disagreement within the NATO alliance resolved late Sunday over the dispatch of military hardware for the defense of fellow member Turkey in the event of an attack by Iraq. Mr. Kanli also disagrees with the Turkish government's emphasis on the size of an economic aid package:

MR. KANLI: If you make this the central issue of the discussion, I think this hurts the prestige of Turkey and the standing of the Turkish position regarding allied relations with the United States and the other allies. This wasn't appropriate behavior that Turkey adopted.

On the other hand, Turkish officials are defending that Turkey was not compensated in the first Gulf War, therefore, now it is after getting concrete assurances from the United States that it will be compensated. That is exactly where we are at. Will Turkey get the money it wanted? I think there will be a deal. The deal will be, I think, at an optimum point, the demands of Turkey and the offer of America so far.

MR. BEATTIE: What about this whole issue involving NATO and coming to the defense of Turkey should it be attacked by Iraq, did that upset the Turkish Government?

MR. KANLI: It upset the Turkish Government and Turkey in large, of course, because we assumed that NATO is an organization for the joint defense of the Alliance, all allies. And if three members of the Alliance come up with a claim that it is not time to think of defending Turkey, while Turkey is considering the pros and the cons of possible war and the potential that Iraq might have, and it is very much worried that there could be, one, a huge influx of refugees, two, a possible attack on Turkish territory, three, an upset in the regional balance, in such an atmosphere, Turkey expected a firm position from its allies.

HOST: Yusuf Kanli is editor of the "Turkish Daily News" in Ankara, a paper with a 32-thousand daily circulation. He spoke to VOA News Now's Victor Beattie.

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