Tue, Mar 25, 2003 page2

• Rifts deepen in US-Turkey ties as Iraq conflict brings animosity to the fore

  • NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE
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  Only a few months ago, the relationship between the US and Turkey appeared to be as healthy as ever, a dependable friendship with many happy returns.

  Officials here took comfort in the American push for a reluctant EU to open its door to Turkey. American officials figured they could count, and count heavily, on Turkey's cooperation in any military strikes on Iraq.

  But the fighting began last week without that help, and several days into the war, the amity between the two nations is under severe strain.

  In interviews over recent days, many Turkish and American officials said that a series of misunderstandings between -- and miscalculations by -- the two countries had created profound tensions that are likely to endure.

  Political analysts cast those tensions as a clear example of collateral damage from the war -- a diplomatic setback to be placed alongside the messy, bitter American relations with France and Germany.

  "It's quite serious," said Cem Duna, a former Turkish ambassador to the EU and to the UN.

  "This is a relationship that was built up very carefully and meticulously for the last 40 years or so," Duna said. "It was always referred to as a strategic partnership."

  "Now," he added, "that concept is lost, because it turned out to be neither a partnership nor strategic for that reason. That is very important damage. The trust that was built over this period is no longer here."

  Other analysts and some Turkish leaders provided less pessimistic appraisals.

  In an interview to be published in Newsweek on Monday, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey disputed reports that he and US President Geirge W. Bush had a frosty telephone conversation almost two weeks ago.

  But the magazine reported that before the war began, no Turkish official received notification from Washington, an apparent sign of a new estrangement.

  Turkish air space remained closed to American warplanes until late Friday night, even though the Turkish Parliament had authorized its clearance, as American and Turkish officials argued for more than 24 hours over the details.

  A principal sticking point was a plea by Turkish officials for a broad US endorsement for Turkish troops to enter Iraq, which American officials have urged them not to do. American officials in Washington were furious about the delay.

  But Turkish officials said that Washington was asking for something without giving anything in return. Washington had already withdrawn an aid package worth about US$6 billion that it promised Turkey for a much broader degree of military cooperation.

  A senior Turkish government official said on Friday that the friction between the countries was the worst in more than a decade, and senior members of Erdogan's Justice and Development Party expressed serious resentment toward the US.

  "It's incredible how we made, within a few months, this relationship go from friendship to misunderstanding all over the place," said one of those party members.

  US officials seemed no less upset.

  "There's certainly a lot of disappointment," said a senior American official. "The relationship is not good right now, but we have a responsibility to make it better, because we have so many mutual interests."

  The US and Turkey have been partners in NATO for more than 50 years, and their ties run deep. The US has given Turkey crucial economic support, and Turkey has provided a dependable, geographically important ally in a volatile region that features many governments hostile to the US.

  For those and other reasons, American military planners expected to be able to move tens of thousands of American troops from southeastern Turkey into northern Iraq when an invasion began.

  But the Turkish Parliament rejected that plan on March 1, and Erdogan was unable to put the issue before parliament again until it was too late to do the US much good.

  "Turkey never fully appreciated how important deadlines were for us," the senior American official said. "They did not give priority to Washington's timeline."

  Turkish political leaders said that Washington never appreciated the overwhelming opposition in Turkey to a war in Iraq. In public opinion polls, 94 percent of Turks said they disapproved of war.

  "I believe it was really more like 99.9 percent," said Egemen Bagis, a leading Justice and Development party member who is close to Erdogan.

  "The prime minister did his best," Bagis said. "There are some limitations in the democratic process."
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