ANKARA, Jan 10: Turkey has given permission for US specialists to carry out inspections of military facilities in the country as part of preparations for a possible invasion of Iraq, Prime Minister Abdullah Gul said on Friday.

“Yes, I signed the decision,” Gul was quoted as saying by Anatolia news agency.

Some 150 US military specialists are expected to arrive shortly in Turkey to carry out the surveys, a US diplomat said.

A senior Turkish government official said the government had okayed the signing of a memorandum of understanding with the United States on site surveys for ports and airports in the country.

Ankara has been holding back for several weeks on the inspection deal, raising strong concerns in Washington, which wants its regional ally to do more to prepare for a war against Iraq.

Turkey fears that a war in the region would hit its already fragile economy and trigger unrest on both Kurdish-populated sides of the Turkish-Iraqi border.

The US military specialists, currently based in western Europe, were expected to start their inspections early next week, diplomatic sources said.

Turkish newspapers said an agreement on their dispatch had been held up by a dispute over whether members of the team should be subject to Turkish law during their mission.

NATO member Turkey, which neighbours Iraq, is home to several strategic air bases.

The country opened its Incirlik base, in the south, to US warplanes bombarding Iraq during the 1991 war. The base is still used by a US-British force enforcing a no-fly zone declared by the United States and Britain over northern Iraq.

US deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, during a recent visit to Ankara, said Washington was prepared to spend several hundred million dollars on modernizing Turkish military installations.

“Turkish and American military officers will have a look at what the capacity is at different Turkish bases that might be used for a possible operation” against Iraq, according to Francis Ward, public affairs counsellor at the US embassy.

Specialists will look into whether airstrips are able to handle heavy transport planes, if ports can accommodate transport ships and if roads can take large army convoys.

The New York Times reported on Thursday that senior US officials were increasingly worried that they were running out of time to get Turkey on board in time for a possible military operation.

“From the military standpoint, we have just about reached the critical mass point for a yes or no from Turkey,” the Times quoted a senior US official as saying.

Turkish public opinion remains staunchly against war and the new government has said it would be politically difficult to accept a major deployment of US ground forces.—AFP