Top Turkish general fears Kurds will be new U.S. ally vs. Iraq
Polls show as much as 94 percent of the Muslim-dominated Turkish public opposes a war with Iraq.
Turkey's paliment dealt a stunning blow to U.S. war planning Saturday by voting against a bill allowing in American combat troops to open a northern front against Iraq. Before the vote, 50,000 Turks staged an anti-war rally near parliment as 4,000 police stood guard.
They chanted "No to War" and "We dont want to be America's soldiers." Some carried banners that read: The people will stop this war." Hundreds of Turks celebrated in the streets of central Ankara, shouting anti-U.S. slogans.
"We are all Iraqis . . We ill not kill, we will not die," they chanted. They also accused the Islamic-rooted Justice party of "collaborating with Washinton.
Washington had been so sure of winning approval from close ally and NATO member Turkey, that ships carrying U.S. tanks are waiting off Turkeys' coast for deployment and the U.S. military has thousands of tons of military equipment ready to unload at the southern Turksih port of Iskenderun.
For weeks, the Bush administration had been pressing Turkey to agree to a possible northern front, which would split Saddam Hussein's army between the north and the south, likely making a war shorter and less bloody.
The motion would have empowered Turkey's gobernment to authorize the basing of up to 62,000 troops, 255 warplanes, and 65 helicopters. In exchange, Washington promised $15 billion in loans and grants to cushion the Turkish economy from impact of war.
Turkey eyes northern Iraqi oil
Turkey prepares to stake claim in Iraq's oil fields
Turkey eyes Iraqi oil fields in midst of war rumbling.
Iraqi oil fields will be prime target.
Kurdish army will try to capture nearby oil-rich areas in case of war.
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Turkey also wants U.S. troops to take over the Kirkuk and Mosul oil fields.
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