Additional Reporting by Sa’ad Abdul Majid, IOL Turkey Correspondent

ANKARA, February 19 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The U.S.-flagged ship Tellus Wednesday, February 19, offloaded 522 military vehicles among other military equipments, in the Mediterranean port of Iskenderun, southern Turkey without permission from the Turkish government.

The vehicles included army trucks, radio transmission vehicles and other types of troop transporters, according to footage broadcast by the network, Agence France-Presse (AFP) said.

The CNN-Turk television network said the vehicles were assigned to units involved in the “upgrade” of Turkish ports and airports, a mission authorized earlier this month by the Turkish parliament ahead of a possible war with Iraq.

Meanwhile Aksam newspaper reported that tempers flared on Tuesday, February 18, when some 50 battle-ready U.S. commandos arrived by bus and sought to obtain entry to the port facilities.

Port authority chairman Cumhur Ozturkler initially refused them entry to the port facilities, saying they did not have proper permission, the newspaper said.

It was possible to reach officials at the port for confirmation on Wednesday, AFP said.

Aksam also reported that 12 patrol boats, dispatched by Turkey to the Iskenderun region, were preventing fishermen from putting out to sea.

Officials recently suggested that ships carrying U.S. military equipment to Turkey were currently lying offshore, waiting for a green light from the Turkish parliament to start deploying combat forces.

No Plans For Vote On U.S. Troop Deployment Soon

The head of the ruling party Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday that Turkey has no plans to hold a parliamentary vote this week or early next week on allowing U.S. troops on its soil for a possible war against Iraq.

"There is no fixed date," Erdogan said when asked whether a vote might be held this week or Monday next week, speaking during an interview with the NTV news channel.

U.S. Offers Turkey Up To $24 billion In Aid

The United States has offered Turkey up to 24 billion dollars in “financial aid” to offset the impact that a war in Iraq could have on the fragile Turkish economy, the head of Turkey's ruling party said Wednesday.

Erdogan told NTV news channel that Washington has proposed two alternative packages -- one of six-billion-dollar grants and a second of long-term loans of about 24 billion dollars (22 billion euros).

A two-billion-dollar tranche of the grants would be in the form of writing off loans taken out by Turkey to purchase U.S. military equipment.

Erdogan did not say whether Turkey was satisfied with the size of the proposals, but said it was unhappy with the U.S. congressional approval required for the release of the assistance, which could drag on for weeks.

"It might well fail to pass through the Congress. But if it is passed, it is said it might be passed in between six and eight weeks," Erdogan said.

A spat over the terms of economic, political and military cooperation between the United States and Turkey in the event of a war in Iraq has prompted Ankara to delay a decision on whether to open its territory for launching strikes against Baghdad

‘Not Much Time Left’

Meanwhile, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Turkey has "not much time left" to reach a deal with the U.S. on whether its territory can be used by U.S. troops in a possible war.

"Either an agreement will be reached, or an agreement won't be reached," Fleischer said.

Turkey is a "strategic partner" of the United States, he added, noting that NATO had now taken steps to provide logistical support in the event of a war with Iraq.

But the Turks have no immediate plans to hold a parliamentary vote on the matter. "There is no fixed date," Recep Tayyip Erdogan, head of the ruling party said.

NATO at last formally approved defensive measures for Turkey in the event of war after being paralyzed for weeks by one of the worst splits in its history after France, Germany and Belgium refused to vote in favor.

And NATO chief George Robertson headed to Washington for high-level talks, admitting the alliance had been damaged by one of the worst splits in its history.

Russia expressed "profound concern" about four straight days of strikes by U.S. and British forces against Iraqi air defense facilities with the foreign ministry calling the attacks both unwarranted and contradicting UN Security Council resolutions on Iraq.