The Financial Times February 28, 2003
Ankara delays parliamentary vote on deal over US troops
By Leyla Boulton in Ankara
The Turkish parliament has decided to delay until tomorrow a vote on the deployment of 62,000 US troops for the opening of a vital second front in a likely war against neighbouring Iraq.
The delay was announced yesterday as the US confirmed there was still no final agreement in its negotiations with Turkey on a package of economic aid potentially worth $24bn (€22.3bn, £15.2bn) in cheap long-term loans - and a variety of political concessions sought by Turkey as a condition for its support.
The announcement depressed volatile Turkish financial markets, which had rallied in anticipation of a deal. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the leader of the ruling Justice and Development party (AKP), had said on Wednesday that unless something out of the ordinary occurred, a vote would take place yesterday.
Although the reasons for a postponement were not immediately clear, one senior official explained that the AKP leadership wanted the support of Turkey's powerful generals at a meeting of the National Security Council today.
In particular, they want the military to help them persuade President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, who is frequently at loggerheads with the AKP, that a second United Nations resolution is not necessary before US troops can be deployed.
The AKP is also troubled by the national anti-war feeling. Its members of parliament have been inundated with anti-war complaints from constituents. Ertugrul Yalcinbayir, deputy prime minister, has threatened to resign and urged colleagues to vote against the government. However, Abdullah Gul, the prime minister, and Mr Erdogan decided that Turkey had more to gain than to lose from supporting the US.
Apart from gaining extensive US aid, Turkey would also secure a say in the shaping of Iraq after a war. It has also obtained the blessing of the US to send around 40,000 troops to northern Iraq to keep refugees in protected camps.
Ankara is determined to discourage moves towards an independent state in northern Iraq or an ethnically based federation that would perpetuate self-rule by Iraqi Kurds - seen in Ankara as a dangerous example for Turkish Kurds.
* Military analysts who have been tracking troop and equipment movements said 20 to 30 transport ships with almost all the weapons systems for the US 4th infantry division remained off the coast of Turkey, including the unit's entire complement of Abrams battle tanks and Bradley armoured personnel carriers, Peter Spiegel reports from Washington.
"It's the whole division minus the people," said Patrick Garrett, a military analyst with GlobalSecurity.org.
The port of Iskenderun on Turkey's southern coast, the expected landing point for the equipment, has 10 berths, but Mr Garrett said only two of them might be capable of handling the large roll-on, roll-off transport ships that are carrying the equipment.
That would mean at least a week and a half would be needed to unload it, plus an additional week to reload on to rail wagons and ship it east to the Iraqi border. See World Stock Markets
Copyright © 2003, The Financial Times Ltd
