So we're essentially bribing Turkey to participate. I wonder if we're making any backroom deals with Turkey on the future of the Kurds? __________________________ Turkey Seeks $32 Billion for Helping U.S. in an Iraqi War By DEXTER FILKINS, NYTimes 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."
So we're essentially bribing Turkey to participate. Are we bribing them, or are they simply asking us to cover their expenses of hosting us? The amount Turkey is asking for is the amount they estimate this mess would cost them. http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/02/18/sprj.irq.erdogan/index.html <I>The United States has offered about $6 billion in grants and $15-$20 billion in loan guarantees, diplomats said. Turkey argues that its losses from a drop in tourism, higher oil prices and soaring interest rates on foreign debt would far exceed that. </I>
Britain is sending a huge % of their military to fight beside us, at an enormous cost to them and to Blair politically. We should be grateful. If we pushed for help on the Turkey deal it would be another blunder by the Administration. I think we've had enough of those already. I still hope we can avoid a conflict, and had hoped that Saddam's certain destruction would lead to his exile or overthrow by the Iraqi military. France and Germany have put paid to that idea, however. We need Turkey in this thing if Bush goes through with it. It can be done without Turkey, but it would be far better militarily and politically to have them with us. I wish we weren't going to war with Iraq. I think that the situation is akin to what happened in WW1. After the Great Powers had mobilized, they felt they HAD to go to war. The momentum was irreversible.
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. If this is true we might not get Turkey's support. There are real doubts as to whether the US will get its second resolution. That is probably why I saw Bush on Tv tonight saying that we aren't required to get a second resolution. Some estimates are that 95% of the Turks are against our war. This really puts Turkey in a bind. Turkey is in a real economic bind and we are pressuring them by threatening to withhold IMF loans. *************************** *************************** Turkey's economy is heavily dependent on the International Monetary Fund (news - web sites) and U.S. support is seen as key for Ankara to secure loans. But Erdogan warned that Turkey could not be forced into backing a U.S.-led war because of its economic difficulties. "Nobody should expect a decision or an attitude dictated by Turkey's temporary problems and troubles," he said. turkey
