US and Turkey reach $15 billion agreement

New York Times via Arizona Star ^ | Steven R. Weisman and Judith Miller

[Angelus Errare]

WASHINGTON - The United States has reached an agreement with Turkey on a package of $15 billion in immediate economic and military assistance that is expected to lead to approval in Ankara next week for American troops to use Turkey as a base in a war against Iraq, administration officials said on Friday.

The aid is to include $6 billion in cash up front, with roughly $1 billion of this money used to leverage another $10 billion in American loans available for Turkey's immediate needs, the officials said. A few details on the timing and makeup of the loans remain subject to negotiations over the weekend.

"There will be a deal," said an administration official involved in the talks with Turkey. "The two sides are finally in the same universe. The Turks have to decide exactly how they want the money, but the money totals are set."

Despite the agreement on money, Turkey and the United States are still ironing out a separate point of contention, over the size and role of Turkish troops in northern Iraq, officials said. Large numbers of Turkish forces plan to enter Iraq with American troops and carry out relief efforts for refugees.

American officials said they hoped to resolve all the financial and military issues by Monday or Tuesday. But some acknowledged that the disagreement on the role of the Turkish military in Iraq could prove to be a long-term irritant, no matter how it is resolved in the short term.

Turkey wants to send tens of thousands of troops into Iraq to prevent a repeat of what happened in the Persian Gulf War of 1991, when hundreds of thousands of Kurdish refugees jammed the Iraq-Turkey border and flooded into Turkey itself.

But the United States is concerned that Turkey might use its troop presence to exercise control in northern Iraq, prevent the Kurds from establishing their own state and possibly even demand concessions from Iraq's oil operations. The ultimate American fear is that such a force might, in turn, encourage Iran to send in a force of its own to control the Shiite portions of southern Iraq.

A senior American official said Turkish forces would be "primarily humanitarian" in nature but that the specifics of what they would do might be worked out as the war gets under way. He expressed confidence that any Turkish force "will not prevent us from reaching our objective" of maintaining Iraq's territorial unity.

[Angelus Errare]

Sounds like the Turks got about half of what they wanted and that it was the US tough bargaining position that made them decide to take the best deal they could get. Classic ME haggling and it looks like the US did a pretty good job on it.

[Hodar]

Let me see if I have this right. US is paying extortion, to protect Turkey (and other middle east countries) from a country with a history of aggression and WMD use against civilians.

What a great 'ally' we have there. Not only do we have to defend their sorry a$$es, we are paying extortion to do so.

[George W. Bush]

Finally. I'm not sure the haggling and politicking was worth it but Turkey's new parliament had to flex its muscles, I guess. I think the former ruling party would have done this deal in a more seemly fashion.

[Angelus Errare]

Not exactly extortion. By agreeing to base our troops in their country, the Turks have opened themselves up to the very real threat of being attacked by Saddam in order to deprive the US of an ally, to say nothing of risking a resurrection of the Marxist PKK that killed 30,000 people during the 1990s.

Additionally, compared to what the US pays in foreign aid to Israel or Egypt on an annual basis, the Turkish request is hardly extortion.

[The Lake City Gar]

Were the Turks being represented by Homer Simpson???

We offered 26 Billion, they countered with 31 Billion and we settle on 15 Billion??????

[Sangamon Kid]

US is paying extortion,...

Heck, it's only paper. And if you look at the money supply, there's a good chance the ink is still wet.

Another example of Uncle Sam reaching into our pockets for the money that we don't have. And for what? In another 3 to 5 years these Turks will be demanding more protection money...and we'll go through the process again.

[dennisw]

Obviously Turkey is salivating over those Northern Iraq oil fields. Kurds want them too and this can lead to a bloody mess.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

When the people of Iraq are free, I don't think they would mind if the US taxpayer is repaid by offsetting the cost of freedom with oil profits.

[George W. Bush]

We offered 26 Billion, they countered with 31 Billion and we settle on 15 Billion??????

Um...this is only the immediate aid. There's more to this deal, I'm certain. The price is very high but neither side got everything it wanted. We held our line pretty well and the Turks squeezed out a couple of extra billions for themselves.

[Afronaut]

And some here get twisted with unemployment insurance extentions..... Amazing.

[RobFromGa]

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[steveegg]

All I have to say is that the Northern Front is now open for business.

[LS]

This is common historically and goes way back to Washington (paying extortion to the Barbary pirates not to seize U.S. ships) and Jefferson and others "indemnifying" people in the event of a war. For ex., in the Mexican War, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo had us paying the Mexicans for certain property destroyed. Likewise, we have used all sorts of bribes for our allies in the past. Why would you expect to do something different now? And if you were Turkey, why would you NOT hold out for all you can get?

[daviddennis]

I don't remember the exact figures, but I think this is about double the free cash, and much lower loans. I suspect Turkey didn't want to be on the hook for such enormous payments.

The actual justification for the payments is as a counter to Iraq's trade manipulation. Huge amounts of money were flowing between Iraq and Turkey. A typical deal might be half-price Iraqi oil that the Turks can then sell for full price. In a relatively small and primitive economy like Turkey, cutting that off would be like cutting off blood to the brain.

You could say, well, this is smuggled oil in the first place, and illegal, and you'd be absolutely right. But that's the way things are done in the Middle East.

This is how Iraq manipulates other countries to support them. Including, incidentally, France. France has a whole ton of deals like that, which cannot be realized in their case until sanctions are officially dropped. Thus, the French pressure to drop them.

If you look at that "No Blood for Oil" slogan, it's pretty ironic. France is trading blood, in the form of support for Saddam's repressive regime, for Iraq's promise of cut-price oil when sanctions end. Want to trade blood for oil? France is the master, and nobody's even protesting.

Shameful.

D

[MineralMan]

"What a great 'ally' we have there. Not only do we have to defend their sorry a$$es, we are paying extortion to do so."

And how much payment would you require to have 150,000 Turkish troops based on US soil? We're not there to defend Turkey. We're there to attack Iraq. Turkey's plenty capable of defending itself against Iraq already.

[R_Kangel]

FINALLY!!!

Now we can deploy the final compliment of troops to the theatre of operations. We have been waiting for this settlement for the past few weeks.

It's Showtime!!

Time to take out the "Quack from Iraq."

[tessalu]

I have read that the USA did not honor it's past commitment to Turkey during the last Gulf war, and if this is true, they may have had good reason to ruff up their feathers and hold out for money to cover their losses.

[evad]

What a great 'ally' we have there. Not only do we have to defend their sorry a$$es, we are paying extortion to do so.

We certainly do toss the term "ally" around loosely.

As far as I can see we really have only one "ally" and one "close associate".

The rest are just various types of window dressing.

[Destro]

The real figures will be hidden from the American public-the congress has not said yes to this yet and if the true amount is released it might not pass.

[Destro]

Since when did the President get this blank check? Did Congress vote away its power of the purse when it passed the Iraqi resolution? I have heard no onebring up the constitutional implications of this "the power of the purse" issue.