Envoy: No U.S. Aid for Turkey Without Troops Deal

Reuters ^

[RCW2001]

Tue March 4, 2003 10:32 AM ET

ANKARA (Reuters) - The U.S. ambassador to Ankara put a multi-billion-dollar aid package to Turkey on the line on Tuesday, saying the offer of financial help was at risk if there was no agreement on the deployment of American troops.

"Without the agreement there is no financial package," U.S. ambassador Robert Pearson told reporters after talks with Prime Minister Abdullah Gul in the capital.

"One of our original purposes was that the financial package could be of assistance to the Turkish economy during a time of stress. That was the reason why we proposed it," he said.

Financial markets plunged after Turkish lawmakers at the weekend narrowly voted down the motion to open military facilities to some 62,000 U.S. soldiers. Investors fear Turkey could now face a war in neighbor Iraq without U.S. support worth up to $30 billion in grants and loan guarantees.

Parliament's stunning vote against the motion threatens to undermine the Bush administration's military planning against Baghdad, accused of building weapons of mass destruction.

Ten U.S. warships laden with equipment for 30,000 troops are presently waiting off Turkey's Mediterranean coast.

Analysts have said a secondary "northern front" from Turkey to relieve a main invasion into Iraq's south could shorten any war and limit the number of American casualties.

The ruling Justice and Development Party said it was considering resubmitting a motion. Markets climbed higher on Tuesday after sharp falls the previous day on hopes parliament would eventually vote to allow the U.S. deployments.

Asked whether Washington wanted parliament to vote on a second motion, Pearson said: "We have hopes, as we always have had, of working closely with Turkey."

Pearson said he would brief Washington after learning Gul's "best perspective on what lies ahead... We will work on the basis of the advice that Turkey has given us."

[cubreporter]

I'm losing patience. Is this FAIR to our troops to keep them sitting out there on those ships?

[Bill Davis FR]

bush postpones war to reposition troops from turkey to kuwait...

[scooby321]

we have enough Troop Now in Area

[The Old Hoosier]

Screw them. We can always ally ourselves with the Kurds if necessary, and they'll regret it.

[mad puppy]

It makes me sick to think that 1 additional Marine will face additional risk because of Turkey. At the same time, I want to send our guys to Kuwait and get on with it, leaving Turkey to stew in their own juices for what will be a very bloody few years for them. At this point, if Turkey finds a clue, they will vote to let our guys in and if that happens you can be sure that all the citizen-turkeys will go mad creating all kinds of additional problems for themselves and us.

[ken5050]

I think this whole think was just a miscounting of votes in the Turkish parliament...some of the members needed to vote against US troops in Turkey, to make a statement..but the Turkish whips forgot how to count......and BTW, while I'm not defending Turkey, don't forgethow NATO treated Turkey a few weeks ago....

[Cobra64]

All of those unwashed middle-Eastern types are Turkeys!

[Marysecretary]

We should cut off aid to any country that opposes us, not only in the war in Iraq. I'm sick of the US spending my hard earned tax dollars on countries that use the money for their dictators and not for their people. Give the money to Christian organizations in these countries (if there are any) and let them disperse the finances and build wells and other infrastructure that's needed, help the people build their own country instead of giving the dictators that run these countries the money.

[Psalm 73]

....then again, this all could be part of the huge disinformation blitz....
(I am not believing that we would allow ourselves to be held hostage by these thugs - or we were unexpectedly stabbed in the back,ie: the deal was already agreed on and Turkey double-crossed us).

[BlueLancer]

"...don't forget how NATO treated Turkey a few weeks ago."

And don't forget who went to the mats for the Turks, ensuring that they got the defensive weaponry they requested and required.

The US is not the one who needs to remember the NATO actions. Turkey seems to be playing her own game, playing the EU off against the US. They need to remember that it was the big EU powers .. France and Germany .. who tried to freeze them out.

And now Turkey is helping them against us.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Note what's been happening on the Turkish stock market. Short selling on the 1st vote. Now their market's up by 5 percent.

[Warren]

Agreed! I'm getting to the point where I wish we would pull out & let Iraq's neighbors take any necessary action.
Then, we could sit back & criticize.

[kitkat]

Bump

[Thud]

Thls is the separate aid package I was talking about.

[cubreporter]

No kidding. This is getting old. We are the USA and we should never, ever again go to that irrelevant and stupid UN for nothing. Ever! We should go out and do what we see fit for the sake and safety of our own country. The UN means nothing...the UN IS nothing.