December 25, 2002	Wednesday	Shawwal 20, 1423

ANKARA, Dec 24: NATO member Turkey is to allow the United States to use several of its air bases in case of war in Iraq, but is firmly against the mass deployment of US soldiers on its soil, the Turkish press reported on Tuesday.

The decisions were taken at a key summit here on Monday bringing together the government, the powerful military and several top bureaucrats to discuss a series of US requests for help in the event of an invasion of Iraq, the liberal Milliyet daily said.

An official statement issued from Prime Minister Abdullah Gul’s office after the meeting stressed that Turkey had not made a “final political decision” or “committed itself to any obligations”.

But according to Milliyet, Ankara will open five military air bases to the United States in case of a war, including the Incirlik base, in southern Turkey, which was used for air raids against Baghdad during the 1991 war.

Incirlik also currently hosts a joint US-British force tasked with patrolling the no-fly zone in northern Iraq.

Other bases include bases Diyarbakir and Batman, in the southeast, and Malatya and Mus, in the east, the daily said.

Officials from the US Office of Defence Cooperation (ODC) have already begun inspections at some of the said bases, the liberal Radikal daily reported.

In return for its logistical support, Ankara will ask Washington to install missile systems to protect the bases, Milliyet said.

However, Ankara has decided against giving permission for the deployment of “tens of thousands of US troops” on its soil to open a “northern front” against Iraq, it added.

The meeting ended with consensus on allowing only small US contingents to be based on Turkish soil.

While agreeing to become fully “involved” in a possible strike, Turkey will ask the United States to secure international legitimacy for the operation through a new UN Security Council Resolution or a NATO decision, Radikal said.

Ankara will also tell Washington that it should secure backing from other Muslim countries in the region for the coalition against Iraq, it added.—AFP