Powell Seeks to Rebuild Turkey Ties After Iraq Wrangle

01/04/2003| IslamWeb

US Secretary of State Colin Powell was to arrive in Turkey later Tuesday for talks aimed at reviving the key relationship between Washington and Ankara, hurt by a succession of rows over the war against Iraq . Powell will "make sure that nobody gets the wrong impression we're angry with each other. He's not bringing money, he's not going to bang his fist on the table," an Ankara-based US diplomat said on Monday. The State Department's announcement of Powell's hastily arranged trip, which will see him also visit NATO headquarters in Brussels, took Ankara by surprise.

Relations between the United States and Turkey, the only Muslim member of NATO, have been deteriorating since the Turkish parliament on March 1 narrowly rejected American plans to deploy 62,000 troops here to open a northern front in the Iraq war.

The parliament's decision, which Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz slammed last week as a "big mistake", infuriated the White House.

Powell however is not expected to raise the troops issue with Turkish leaders, as the US naval vessels that were due to offload the soldiers in Turkey have long since left the Mediterranean for the Gulf.

But he could ask Ankara to broaden the permission it gave shortly after the war broke out for US warplanes to fly over Turkish airspace on their way to Iraq, to include a go-ahead for refueling over Turkey.

Another crucial issue should be Turkey's insistence it may send further troops into the Kurdish areas of northern Iraq, a move fiercely resisted by Washington.

Ankara fears that Kurds in northern Iraq could declare an independent state, setting a dangerous example to the big Kurdish population in Turkey's own south eastern corner, where a separatist uprising killed over 36,000 people in the 1990s.

But diplomats said that other issues, such as the future status of the divided island of Cyprus, Turkey's drive to join the European Union and the "war on terror" will also be on the agenda of Powell's visit.

"The visit will focus more on bilateral issues than on Iraqi related contingencies," explained a Turkish diplomat.
"It's a reaffirmation of our strategic relations... (to) make sure recent developments do not lead to a weakening of our strategic relationship," the diplomat added.

The two countries should also discuss aid for Turkey to help it overcome the economic difficulties of the war, after Ankara lost out on a promised six million dollar (5.5 million euro) aid package from Washington when parliament rebuffed US overtures regarding the troops.

The White House has asked Congress to make a decision by mid-April on economic aid for countries which share a border with Iraq.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is expected to announce he has written to all the members of the US Congress, explaining the situation in Turkey, where over 90 percent of the population is opposed to the war.

PHOTO CAPTION

US Secretary of State Colin Powell (AFP/Luke Frazza)