Turkey beefs up defenses, US troop debate expected today

Twice as many Turkish as US soldiers to enter Iraq, Erdogan says

A Turkish soldier guards a NATO AWACS aircraft at the NATO forward operating base in Konya, Turkey yesterday. The first E-3A AWACS landed yesterday in Turkey and will begin missions today assisting Turkey in defending its air space in view of a looming war with Iraq.

By Ralph Boulton - Reuters

ANKARA - Turkey said yesterday it was poised to seal a deal allowing 62,000 US troops to deploy here for a “northern front” Washington hopes would speed victory in any war against Iraq.

The apparent breakthrough came as Turkey beefed up its own defenses against any Iraqi retaliation. Dutch Patriot missiles were unloaded from a cargo ship in the southern port of Iskenderun and a NATO AWACS surveillance plane arrived in central Turkey.

Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan hinted that he now felt Turkey had achieved all it could in talks on terms conducted under growing US pressure as the threat of war looms.

“If nothing out of the ordinary happens, the motion (on deploying US troops) will be discussed in the assembly tomorrow,” Erdogan, leader of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK), told the CNN Turk television channel.

“It would be wrong if we said we have agreed 100 percent with the United States on every issue, there are points we haven’t agreed on but we’ll have to put up with that,” he added.

If Erdogan, as expected, presses the motion through Parliament despite dissent in the AK, US forces waiting off the coast may begin disembarking at ports and airports in days.

A final deal has been delayed by differences over a financial package to shield Turkey’s frail economy against the impact of war. There were also differences over the role Turkish troops would play in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq — an area Ankara sees as central to Turkish interests.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell had telephoned Prime Minister Abdullah Gul late on Tuesday night stressing the urgency of a Turkish parliamentary decision.

Erdogan said Turkey would form a buffer zone 20 kilometers (12 miles) deep into northern Iraq. Turkey would also maintain twice as many soldiers as the USA in northern Iraq, which has been beyond Baghdad’s control since the 1991 Gulf War.

That could put Turkish troop strength at some 40,000.

Kurds, suspected by Turkey of ambitions to found their own state hostile to Ankara, have expressed deep fears about the entry of Turkish troops into Iraq. The USA has been at pains to head off any conflict between Kurds and Turkish allies.

The outline of the financial deal became clear. Economy Minister Ali Babacan said Washington had offered $6 billion in grants and up to $24 billion in loan guarantees for its fragile economy in return for the stationing of troops.

“These numbers represent the point the Americans have reached... Negotiations are continuing.”

AK sources said there had been deadlock on Turkish requests for tax on US goods and equipment brought into the country as well as on fuel.

Turkey shut down all trade by road to Iraq and halted crude oil imports by road tanker from Iraqi territory over its one frontier crossing yesterday. It also evacuated its embassy in Baghdad.