NYTimes.com Article: Turkey Seeks $32 Billion for Helping U.S. in an Ira

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Turkey Seeks $32 Billion for Helping U.S. in an Iraqi War

February 18, 2003
By DEXTER FILKINS 




 

ISTANBUL, Feb. 18 - Turkish officials said today that they
were waiting for the Bush administration to answer its
demand for $32 billion in economic aid to ensure its
participation in a war with Iraq, as the two longtime
allies both seemed to harden their positions. 

The American ambassador to Turkey, Robert Pearson, was
summoned to the Turkish Foreign Ministry after 10 p.m on
Monday, American officials said, and given the proposal,
which he forwarded to Washington. The Turkish request is
some $6 billion more than what American officials said was
their "final" offer over the weekend. 

The Turks called their offer "final" as well. It remained
to be seen whether negotiations would begin anew, or
whether the Bush administration's ambitious plan to use
Turkey to begin an invasion of northern Iraq would fall
through. That prospect seemed to put an unusual strain on
the relationship between the longtime allies, as each side
spoke of the other in increasingly harsh tones. 

By this evening, Turkish officials said they had received
no answer from the Americans. As the day began in
Washington, Ari Fleischer, President Bush's spokesman, put
the burden on Turkish leaders to see the deal through. 

"It will be settled one way or another rather soon," Mr.
Fleischer told reporters. "We continue to work with Turkey
as a friend, but it is decision time. We will find out what
the ultimate outcome is." 

The day passed without a scheduled vote by the Turkish
parliament on the deployment of American combat troops in
Turkey. Turkish officials canceled the vote on Monday,
saying they would go forward only after they reached an
agreement on an economic aid package. 

Turkish leaders warned today that they might ultimately
refuse to participate in an American operation against
Iraq. In a speech to party members, Tayyip Erdogan, the
leader of the Justice and Development Party, said the
recent vote by the Turkish parliament authorizing American
engineers to prepare Turkish military bases for their
possible use by American soldiers did not mean that the
government would automatically agree to open up the bases
to thousands of American troops. 

"Our American friends should not interpret this decision to
mean that Turkey has embarked on an irreversible road," Mr.
Erodgan said. "It is not possible for us to accept anything
which we don't approve of, which we don't believe as
necessary or which we can't explain to our people." 

At the same time, Ahmet Necdet Sezer, the Turkish
president, said today that there could be no deployment of
American combat troops in Turkey unless the United Nations
security council passed a second resolution authorizing the
use of military force. 

In Ankara, the Turkish capital, there was no word from the
American Embassy on when the American answer might arrive.
Late Monday, a Western diplomat said that if the Turkish
request differed substantially from the American offer,
then the White House would likely reject it. 

One factor American officials seem to be weighing was the
position of American troops who are currently en route to
Turkey. Paul Wolfowitz, the deputy defense secretary, told
a Turkish reporter late last week that ships ferrying
American soldiers were waiting in the Mediterranean Sea for
word about where they should go. 

"We can no longer keep our troops waiting on ships,
wandering around the eastern Mediterranean," Mr. Wolfowitz
said. Without a decision soon, he said, "it is highly
likely that we would order our ships in the eastern
Mediterranean to shift their direction to the gulf." 

As the deadlock wore, there seemed to be a growing sense
here that the negotiations over Iraq posed a serious threat
to relations with Turkey's most important ally. 

"It depends on what the Americans want to do with it," said
Ali Carkoglu, research director at the Turkish Economic and
Social Studies Foundation. "If the Americans refuse to see
things through Turkish eyes, then it will be very
negative."

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/18/international/europe/18CND-TURK.html?ex=1046624191&ei=1&en=3a8775151bce1320



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