Turkey’s
Ecevit Wants to Be Consulted Before U.S. Attacks Iraq
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Wolfowitz
meets with Ecevit in Ankara, during his official visit to drum
up support for a military action against neighboring Iraq.
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ANKARA,
July 18 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Turkish Prime Minister
Bulent Ecevit, who is currently facing domestic instability, has urged
the U.S. to keep up intensive consultations with Turkey, a key NATO
ally, if it is to carry out a military operation against neighboring
Iraq.
“We
told them that we expect them to act in a very close dialogue with us
if they decide to launch an operation,” Ecevit told STV television
late on Wednesday, July 17, a day after talks with U.S. Deputy Defense
Secretary Paul Wolfowitz in Ankara.
“Iraq
is our neighbor. We have good relations with them. We told them [the
U.S.] that we expect them to show the necessary caution so as we do
not suffer any damage,” Ecevit said.
His
remarks appeared to point at a softening stance on the Iraqi issue in
Ankara, which has earlier expressed vehement opposition to any
military move against Baghdad for fears of economic and political
fallout, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
Nevertheless,
Ecevit said he had tried to persuade Wolfowitz that the Iraqi issue
could be resolved without a military operation.
He
added, however, that “the American administration is not hiding that
it is determined on a military intervention against Iraq.”
The
U.S. intention to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has put an
additional burden on the Turkish government, which was forced Tuesday,
July 16, to call early polls in November after losing its parliament
majority amid a mass exodus from Ecevit’s party, AFP reported.
Engulfed
in a severe government crisis and battling economic woes with IMF
loans that Washington had encouraged, Turkey hardly has any room to
maneuver against U.S. plans, observers say.
The
mainly Muslim but staunchly pro-Western country is of crucial
importance for U.S. moves against Iraq.
It
is home to an American military base, from where U.S. jets launched
strikes against Baghdad in the 1991 Gulf War and which they still use
to enforce a no-fly zone over mainly-Kurdish northern Iraq.
Turkey
is wary that turmoil in Iraq will further damage its ailing economy,
just as the Gulf War did.
Ankara
estimates at about 40 billion dollars the losses it has suffered since
sanctions were slapped on Iraq after the Gulf War.
The
country is also concerned that an operation against Baghdad may help
the Kurds in northern Iraq to set up an independent state, which could
have a domino effect on its own Kurds at a time when a bloody Kurdish
rebellion in the southeast of the country has subsided.
During
his visit to Ankara on Tuesday and Wednesday, Wolfowitz assured
Ecevit’s government of Washington’s “firm opposition” to a
Kurdish state in northern Iraq and that “Turkey’s economic health
is hugely important.”
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