Turkish leader Tayyip Erdogan was quoted yesterday as saying Turkey would not open its bases to US troops unless Washington gave written guarantees on aid and Turkey's role in any Iraq war.
As Ankara sought to drive a hard bargain with Washington, Turkish military officials said thousands of Turkish troops had entered northern Iraq in the last few days to head off feared incursions by Turkish Kurdish guerrillas encamped there.
NATO ally Turkey has dragged its feet on a parliamentary vote to allow American troops to deploy on its soil, throwing into doubt US plans to launch a secondary northern front against Iraq, accused of building weapons of mass destruction.
PHOTO: REUTERS
"This will not happen without a signature," Erdogan told Yeni Safak, an Islamist-leaning newspaper. "We don't have a date in mind. Only when we reach agreement will we send the [troop deployment] request to parliament."
Washington has expressed frustration over Turkey's delay in accepting a multi-billion-dollar aid package in exchange for US access to bases and sea ports, which could serve as staging posts for a war against neighboring Iraq.
Turkey wants a formal assurance the US Congress will act quickly to release financial aid, Erdogan said.
He also said fears of social upheaval and instability in the region outweighed Turkey's concerns over whether its crisis-hit economy could withstand the shock of an Iraq war.
"It's ridiculous to call this bargaining for dollars. The political and military dimensions are far more important, the economic dimension comes after these," Erdogan said.
Turkey argues that its economy lost more than US$30 billion after the 1991 Gulf War and that it had too little say in the new political order in the area, especially northern Iraq.
The White House said on Wednesday night its latest offer, of US$6 billion in grants and up to US$20 billion in loans, was final. Official sources here said contacts overnight with Washington had brought some progress, but gave no details.
Later in the day Prime Minister Abdullah Gul was due to meet Turkey's top general and President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, who argued this week that no parliament vote on US troops was possible without a second UN vote authorizing use of force against Iraq.
Military officials and local authorities in southeast Turkey said that up to 7,000 Turkish troops, with armored vehicles and tanks, had rolled into north Iraq in recent days in response to a perceived threat by Turkish Kurdish guerrillas there.
"The intelligence that has reached us in recent days shows KADEK militants moving toward the border and preparing for action. We have been forced to take military precautions," a military official said.
KADEK, formerly called the PKK, is a separatist movement that waged an armed campaign for a Kurdish homeland in southeast Turkey that killed 30,000 people, mainly Kurds, in the 1980s and 1990s.
The military says a war next door could reignite unrest in the impoverished area bordering semi-autonomous northern Iraq, administered by Iraqi Kurds since the end of the 1991 Gulf War.
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College
RSS