Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=2/20/03

TYPE=U-S OPINION ROUNDUP

TITLE=TURKISH U-S COOPERATION

NUMBER=6-12833

BYLINE=Andrew Guthrie

DATELINE=Washington

EDITOR=Assignments

TELEPHONE=619-3335

CONTENT=

INTRO: A disagreement between long time U-S ally Turkey, a member of NATO, over the extent of cooperation in a potential war with Iraq is getting more and more attention in the U-S press. Now, here is V-O-A's ____________with a sampling in today's U-S Opinion Roundup.

TEXT: The Turkish economy suffered substantially from a cut-off of trade with Iraq after the Gulf War and the Turks are determined to learn from their mistakes. However the U-S press is generally unsympathetic to their demands. We begin in the Texas capital of Austin, where The Austin American-Statesman suggests:

VOICE: A number of the world's nations are behaving quite badly. The impending war against Iraqi despot Saddam Hussein seems to bring out the worst in their leaders. There is France, of course, insulting and arrogant, and threatening to punish Eastern European countries that support President Bush in the standoff with Saddam.

Now Turkey, once dismissed as "the sick man of Europe," is trying to blackmail the United Stares by demanding a ransom before allowing American troops ashore. This is the thanks Turkey offered for American and NATO protection from Saddam's savagery.

[President] Bush offered Turkey 26-billion dollars in aid, grants and loans for its part in the American-led effort to depose the Iraqi dictator. Turkey's leaders turned around and demanded six-billion dollars more, including ten-billion dollars in direct aid before U-S troops will be granted a staging area. Some gratitude. And that after the United States insisted that NATO reverse itself and guarantee military protection to Turkey in the event that Saddam turns his weapons on his neighbor to the north.

TEXT: Thoughts from the Texas capital and The Austin American Statesman. The New York Times is also somewhat distressed at the latest turn of events.

VOICE: After taking a hard look at the poker game being played by President Bush and Saddam Hussein, Turkey, in effect, told Mr. Bush this week to ante up 32-billion dollars if he wants Ankara to take a seat at the table. That's serious money and the demand, which Washington is pondering, says a great deal about the tradeoffs taking place beneath all the lofty arguments about going to war with Iraq.

The business of lining up reluctant governments to provide bases and support for possible military action is not exactly an exercise in Wilsonian [Editors: a reference to former President Woodrow Wilson who fathered the League of Nations, but failed to convince a skeptical U-S Congress to agree] idealism.

Turkey is entitled to seek economic compensation. But pledging 32-billion dollars to a single country could make this the most expensive alliance ever bought. Turkey would want financial guarantees even in a war against Iraq endorsed by the United Nations Security Council. Without such endorsement, and the change in Turkish public opinion it would likely bring, the price of Ankara's participation could prove exorbitant.

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Washington's bargaining with Ankara also has a Kurdish dimension, and it's a rather cynical one. Turkish leaders fear that war in Iraq could fuel demands for an independent Kurdish state, among Turkish as well as Iraqi Kurds. Iraq's Kurds now enjoy de facto autonomy, while Turkey's much larger Kurdish population still faces harsh restrictions. The Bush administration is unwisely considering a plan to allow thousands of Turkish soldiers to move into areas of Kurdish-ruled northern Iraq behind advancing American troops. Washington has a long and shameful history of encouraging Iraqi Kurds to fight Baghdad and then abandoning them to their foes. Doing so again would be a poor start on constructing a more just and democratic Iraq.

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TEXT: As for the Turkish aid demands Connecticut's Hartford Courant admits that:

VOICE: A war, no doubt, would cost a front line state like Turkey considerable sums of money. But Turkey's 32-billion dollar demand for grants and loan guarantees goes well beyond its potential [Kurdish] refugee problem.

TEXT: And lastly, this plea from Michigan's Detroit News that any agreement with Turkey does not discount the long time animosity between the Turks and the Kurds, both in Iraq and its own southeast.

VOICE: Turkey is a good ally of the United States, and its request for assistance in protecting itself from Saddam Hussein's missiles should be honored. If the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) won't step up to that responsibility, America must.

But in the process, the Bush administration must check Turkey's lust for the Kurdish areas of northern Iraq. Turkey is the only nation on Iraq's northern flank willing to host allied troops. As many as 40-thousand soldiers are expected to be deployed from positions within Turkey in an invasion of Iraq. Once hostilities start, Turkey will be faced with absorbing fleeing Iraqi refugees at a time when its own economy is depressed. As payback, Turkey should get America's backing in becoming a member of the European Union and getting the NATO assistance that France and Germany are blocking.

TEXT: That concludes this editorial sampling on the dispute between Turkey and the United States over Turkish cooperation in an anticipated war with Iraq.

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