CIZRE (Turkey): For more than 50 years, Turkey has been one of the United States’ staunchest allies, but that alliance is in increasing danger of becoming one of the casualties of the war against Iraq.
During months of planning for military action against Baghdad, the Pentagon seemed certain that Turkey would allow the US military to base up to 62,000 soldiers here and open a northern front against Iraq. The Bush administration also counted on support from this overwhelmingly Muslim nation to help prove that the United States was not waging a war against Islam.
But Turkey agreed only after weeks of tortuous diplomacy to allow overflights by US military planes — the last NATO country to do so. It rejected being a host to US troops and then disclosed that it was sending 1,500 soldiers into northern Iraq to join its estimated 20,000 troops there.
That raised the danger of fighting between the Turks and Iraqi Kurds, who control northern Iraq.
The US military held out hope to the end that Turkey would reverse course and actively aid the war effort.
As late as last week, Army Corps of Engineers officers were supervising construction of a supply depot in the village of Nusaybin, west of here. The American soldiers drove away on Monday in their Humvees, jeered by Turkish antiwar activists.
“Relations are the worst ever,” said Metin Munir, a prominent political commentator in Istanbul. “The Americans must be absolutely furious. They must feel betrayed.”
For Turkey, the stakes are high. In the midst of a deepening recession, it has forfeited $6 billion in direct aid and billions more in loan guarantees that Washington had offered to help offset the economic effects of the war.
Turkey also may have jeopardized future financial assistance. Last year, the United States helped Turkey obtain $31 billion in loans from the International Monetary Fund.
“Turkey has always counted on the United States as a safety net when its economy got into trouble,” said Muir. “That is gone. Let’s face it.”
Publicly, neither the United States nor Great Britain has criticized Turkey’s actions.
They have little choice. “As it appears now, Iraq may not be that controllable,” said Soli Ozel, a Turkish political analyst. “Do you want an angry, turned-off Turkey to the north? Or do you want a friendly Turkey? A lot may hinge on how this war evolves.”
But some here fear that if the war goes badly, Turkey will be blamed for blocking the creation of a northern front.
Despite the collapse of efforts to enlist Turkey’s aid, the US special envoy, Zalmay Khalilzad, is trying to persuade Turkey not to send more troops into northern Iraq because of the risk of clashes with Kurds.
Turks fear that if Iraqi Kurds seize the oil fields of Kirkuk and Mosul, they will have the economic base for creation of a breakaway independent Kurdish state, threatening Turkey’s stability.—Dawn/The LAT-WP News Service (c) The Washington Post-Baltimore Sun.
