February 17, 2003	Monday	Zul Hijjah 15, 1423

ANKARA, Feb 16: Washington should not expect immediate permission to deploy tens of thousands of troops in Nato member Turkey ahead of a possible war in Iraq, Turkish Foreign Minister Yasar Yakis said on Sunday.

The United States is pressing Ankara hard to allow US soldiers to set up a “northern front” against Baghdad from the Turkey’s southern border, a deployment seen by Washington as a key element of military planning ahead of any conflict.

But while some 300-500 US military personnel landed in Turkey’s southeast on Sunday to renovate military bases ahead of a looming war, Yakis said a parliament vote on the troop deployment, expected by Washington on Tuesday, may not go ahead.

“The US has stressed how important it is for parliament to approve the passage of troops by February 18. We said how difficult this would be...how it may not be possible to get the motion through parliament so quickly,” he told a televised Ankara news conference after returning from talks in Washington.—Reuters