Turkish Parliament Rejects U.S. Plan to Send 62,000 Combat Troops to Turkey for Iraq War

AP ^

[TheOtherOne]

Turkish Parliament Rejects U.S. Plan to Send 62,000 Combat Troops to Turkey for Iraq War
By Louis Meixler Associated Press Writer
Published: Mar 1, 2003

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - Turkey's parliament dealt a stunning blow to U.S. war planning Saturday by failing to approve a bill allowing in American combat troops to open a northern front against Iraq.

The decision, which likely will strain ties with Washington, marked a setback to U.S. efforts to show Saddam Hussein that he is surrounded and his neighbors support a U.S.-led coalition.

The parliament vote was 264-250 in favor, with 19 abstentions. But speaker Bulent Arinc said the outcome fell three votes short of the simple majority required by the constitution. He then closed parliament until Tuesday.

Prime Minister Abdullah Gul hastily met with top ministers and party leaders after the vote. Before going in, a visibly shaken and angry Gul said, "We will assess all this."

Gul did not speak after that meeting. Private NTV and CNN-Turk television stations quoted unnamed officials as saying the government was not planning to resubmit the motion to parliament.

Officials were not immediately available for comment. The leaders of Gul's Justice and Development Party are expected to meet Sunday to discuss what action to take.

U.S. Ambassador Robert Pearson rushed to the Foreign Ministry after the vote.

"We had certainly hoped for a favorable decision," he said. "We will wait for further information and advice from the government of Turkey about how we should proceed."

Turkish lawmakers had faced overwhelming public opposition to basing U.S. troops on Turkish soil. Yet Washington had been so sure of winning approval from close ally and NATO member Turkey, that ships carrying U.S. tanks are waiting off Turkey's coast for deployment and the U.S. military has thousands of tons of military equipment ready to unload at the southern Turkish 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 government 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 the impact of war.

Besides that funding, Turkey also risks losing Washington's support which was crucial in securing billions in loans that rescued the country during an economic crisis in 2001.

The United States has also pushed Turkey's eagerly sought candidacy in the European Union. And if Turkey does not agree to host U.S. forces, it loses a say in the future of neighboring Iraq if there is a war.

That is a critical issue for Turkey, which fears that a war could lead Kurds in northern Iraq to declare an independent state and in turn inspire Turkey's own Kurdish minority.

Nonetheless, Turkey's governing party had difficulty selling the unpopular measure to the Turkish people and could not push through the motion despite its overwhelming majority in parliament.

Polls show as much as 94 percent of the Muslim-dominated Turkish public opposes a war with Iraq. Before the vote, 50,000 Turks staged an anti-war rally near parliament as 4,000 police stood guard. They chanted "No to War" and "We don't want to be America's soldiers." Some carried banners that read: "The people will stop this war."

After the speaker nullified the vote, hundreds of Turks celebrated in the streets of central Ankara, shouting anti-U.S. slogans.

"We are all Iraqis ... We will not kill, we will not die," they chanted. They also accused the Islamic-rooted Justice party of "collaborating" with Washington.

The Justice party was planning to meet Sunday, said Reha Denemec, the party's deputy chairman. "We did not expect these results, but this is a democracy," he said.

AP-ES-03-01-03 2023EST

[prairiebreeze]

**They have allowed Islamists bring the Turkish state to ruins.**

Sadly, I'm concerned that you may be correct. Attaturk (sp?) as the Father of modern secular Turkey, is likely rolling in his grave. He knew the dangers involved with allowing religion to mix with effective government and was adamant about the separation of such.

I think Turkey will regret this soon and will keep regretting it for a very long time. Unfortunately we are likely seeing the decay of a democracy under the sandals of Islam.

Prairie

[Ethyl]

Which brings up another question I am almost afraid to ask:

If there are 15 members in the Security Council, and 8 represents a majority out of 15, then why are NINE votes neeeded for a resolution to pass.

Oh hell, why bothering to ask a question about the Frelling United Nations. Nothing there makes sense. Nothing.


23 posted on 03/01/2003 9:47 PM EST by UncleSamUSA
[
F___-em. We don't need them

[Canadian Outrage]

If the US has to buy Turkey as a coalition partner then I don't know how you could trust them to be faithful in fighting along side the United States Military. They are unappreciate ingrates if you ask me. The US went to bat for them in Nato PLUS has agreed to give them a pile of money. Time for
Buyers Remorse and tell them the deal is off. GRRRRRRR!!

[Beck_isright]

I hope that I am correct. The Turkish military has always been the most pragmatic of institutions and never allowed the Islamicists to gain a foothold in over 70 years. This is a true test for the U.S.-Turk relationship and I hope I'm right. If not, then we might as well seal the borders, terminate our treaty obligations and become 100% isolationist; including Canada and Mexico.

[sheik yerbouty]

FM. Give them nada!

[Torie]

Although there are exceptions, in foreign affairs nobody trusts anybody. Interests converge and diverge.

[hatfieldmccoy]

No Turkey, no France, no Russia, no problem
Damn it--- let's light this candle

[jwalsh07]

Airstrips Readied for U.S. in N. Iraq

[tomahawk]

If the concern is economic, Saturday's vote was economic suicide. I don't think it was economic. I think it was Islamist.

[Thud]

It depends on whether Beck or I are correct about the reason for this. If I am, your country will soon be in a world of hurt with no friends, and its national integrity will no longer be a given. I hope Beck is right (pun intended).

[Torie]

So will Turkey invade on its own. A_Turk seemed to imply that is what he thought. Of course, he currently lives in a zip code near you. Whatever.

[Jeff Chandler]

The house seems has closed the game. Move on to another half assed job:

Korea,
Vietnam,
Cold War,
Gulf War 1,
Somalia,
The Balkans,

Sorry to say it, the world is losing faith..

Perhaps. Perhaps not. Time will tell. The world is shifting, and those countries who act as our friends and allies in these endeavors will fare better in the long run than those who don't. You can take that to the bank.

[BlackVeil]

You ask if it is a ploy. I was wondering that. It may be that we are on the very eve of war - in which case expect deception tactics. This might be a piece of theatre - with only a few in the Turkish parliament actually knowing it. It is hard to believe that a real decision would be left so late.

[Kryptonite]

it's good to finally see who are friends really are.

Islam is no friend of the USA.

[Beck_isright]

I do hope that I'm right too. There is a lot of gamesmanship going on in the Turkish parliment and if the politicians over play their hands, the military will intervene. On the flip side, if we are refusing to put this agreement in writing, it will never pass under the direction of the Turkish generals. They will not get zapped twice in 13 years, that's for sure. And I don't put anything past the zealots in our State Department either. I'm sure the phone and fax lines are still burning up, so by Monday morning, we'll have some clue as to where this is going.

[Howlin]

So I've heard. I was speaking of countries, though.

[Beck_isright]

I won't answer your question on behalf of a_turk but if we fail to gurantee Turkish securty by allowing the creation of a "Kurdistan" I can gurantee you that there will be 150,000 Turks occupying Northern Iraq and not a damn thing we cold do about it. It's a catch 22. We need the Turks to rebuild Iraq and they need our money to rebuild their own economy. Their parliment and our State Department need to shut up and get this deal finished. Or we will have a very, very messy problem on our hands when the war starts.

[whadizit]

This whole project has been a tremendous failure of US diplomats. They were not able to sell this action to ONE country! We failed right from the start by allowing our success to be determined by anti-Americans in UN!!

[RecentConvert]

"We had certainly hoped for a favorable decision," he said. "We will wait for further information and advice from the government of Turkey about how we should proceed."

I'm afraid we're not the same country that made us the most powerful nation on earth and won WWII. Times are a-changing, people.

[Torie]

The US has no plans to create a Kurdistan. That is ludicrous. I am not sure just why we "need" Turkey to held rebuild Iraq, assuming it doesn't get so sulky as to close its borders to trade and transit in a post Saddam era. If Turkey did so, that would really be self defeating.