Re: [A-List] Turkish Speaker Nullifies U.S. Troop Vote

["Henry C.K. Liu" <hliu@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Sabri:

Gald to be corrected.  I got the impression from the AP.

Henry

Turkey Rejects U.S. Troop Deployment Plan
Sat Mar 1, 3:59 PM ET

By LOUIS MEIXLER, Associated Press Writer

ANKARA, Turkey - Turkey's parliament dealt a stunning blow to U.S. war
planning Saturday by failing to approve a bill allowing in American
combat troops to open a northern front against Iraq.

Photo <http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/030301/168/3e2ev.html>
AP Photo
<http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/030301/168/3e2ev.html>


AP Photo Photo <javascript: rs(>
AP Photo <javascript: rs(>

Slideshow Slideshow: Iraq and Saddam Hussein <javascript: rs(>


AP Video <javascript:rs(> Patriot Missiles, AWACS Arrive in Turkey
<javascript:rs(>
(AP Video)


Special Coverage
<http://rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/iraq/2/*http://news.yahoo.com/iraq>

Latest news:

· Iraq Begins Destroying Banned Missiles
<http://rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/iraq/export/top2/*http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030302/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq&cid=540&ncid=1480>

AP - 2 hours, 49 minutes ago

· U.S. Says Iraqi Jets Entered No-Fly Zone
<http://rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/iraq/export/top2/*http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030301/ap_on_re_mi_ea/us_iraq&cid=540&ncid=1480>

AP - Sat Mar 1, 4:40 PM ET

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<http://rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/iraq/export/top2/*http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030301/ap_on_re_mi_ea/un_iraq&cid=540&ncid=1480>

AP - Sat Mar 1,12:01 PM ET

Special Coverage
<http://rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/iraq/2/*http://news.yahoo.com/iraq>




The decision was likely to seriously strain ties with Washington and
marked a setback to U.S. efforts to show Saddam Hussein that he is
surrounded and his neighbors support a U.S.-led coalition.

Prime Minister Abdullah Gul hastily called a meeting with his top
ministers. It was not immediately clear if his Islamic-influenced ruling
Justice and Development party would resubmit the motion. "We will assess
all this," said Gul, looking shaken and angry.

The parliament vote was 264-250 in favor, with 19 abstentions. But
speaker Bulent Arinc nullified the decision because it was four short of
the simple majority required by the constitution. He then closed
parliament until Tuesday.

U.S. Ambassador Robert Pearson rushed to the Foreign Ministry after the
vote.

"We had certainly hoped for a favorable decision," he said. "We will
wait for further information and advice from the government of Turkey
about how we should proceed."

Turkish lawmakers had faced overwhelming public opposition to basing
U.S. troops on Turkish soil. Yet Washington had been so sure of winning
approval from close ally and NATO member Turkey, that ships carrying
U.S. tanks are waiting off Turkey's coast for deployment and the U.S.
military has thousands of tons of military equipment ready to unload at
the southern Turkish port of Iskenderun.

For weeks, the Bush administration had been pressing Turkey to agree to
a possible northern front, which would split Saddam Hussein's army
between the north and the south, likely making a war shorter and less
bloody.

The motion would have empowered Turkey's government to authorize the
basing of up to 62,000 troops, 255 warplanes and 65 helicopters. In
exchange, Washington promised $15 billion in loans and grants to cushion
the Turkish economy from the impact of war.

Besides that funding, Turkey also risks losing Washington's support
which was crucial in securing billions in loans that rescued the country
during an economic crisis in 2001.

The United States has also pushed Turkey's eagerly sought candidacy in
the European Union. And if Turkey does not agree to host U.S. forces, it
loses a say in the future of neighboring Iraq if there is a war.

That is a critical issue for Turkey, which fears that a war could lead
Kurds in northern Iraq to declare an independent state and in turn
inspire Turkey's own Kurdish minority.

Nonetheless, Turkey's governing party had difficulty selling the
unpopular measure to the Turkish people and could not push through the
motion despite its overwhelming majority in parliament.

Polls show as much as 94 percent of the Muslim-dominated Turkish public
opposes a war with Iraq. Before the vote, 50,000 Turks staged an
anti-war rally near parliament as 4,000 police stood guard. They chanted
"No to War" and "We don't want to be America's soldiers." Some carried
banners that read: "The people will stop this war."

After the speaker nullified the vote, hundreds of Turks celebrated in
the streets of central Ankara, shouting anti-U.S. slogans.

"We are all Iraqis ... We will not kill, we will not die," they chanted.
They also accused the Islamic-rooted Justice party of "collaborating"
with Washington.

The Justice party was planning to meet Sunday, said Reha Denemec, the
party's deputy chairman. "We did not expect these results, but this is a
democracy," he said.



Sabri Oncu wrote:

> > Sabri:
> >
> > The pictures are impressive and inspiring.  But as I
> understand,
>
>
> > they are celebrations after the vote, not demonstrations to
> > oppose the vote.
>
> Then your understanding is wrong. These are demonstrations to
> oppose the vote. And these demonstrations are just tip of the
> iceberg. For months, many small and big demonstrations have been
> going on all around Turkey, despite the pressure of one of the
> most repressive states of the world. All sorts of activities from
> writing e-mails and sending cell-phone messages to the MPs, to
> concerts and exhibitions, to book fairs to what have you have
> been organized. There have been concerted efforts by the labor
> and public employee unions, chambers of engineers and doctors,
> lawyers guild and many left political parties. March 1 was
> organized by DISK (Revolutionary Workers Union), KESK (Public
> Employees Union), TMMOB (Turkish Union of the Chambers of
> Engineering and Architecture), TTB (Turkish Doctors Union), ODP
> (Freedom and Solidarity Party), TKP (Communist Party of Turkey),
> TDP (Don't know, must be some party), EMEP (Party of Labor) and
> DEHAP (Democratic Peoples Party whose skeleton is the Kurdish
> HADEP) but they were not all. There were anarchists, gays and
> lesbians, artists, musicians, actors and actresses, professors,
> small business owners, Islamists what have you.
>
> They were not there to celebrate. They were there to stop the
> war. One of the slogans was: "This people will stop this war".
> They took a vote of the motion, a people's vote, before it was
> voted at the National Assembly and unanimously said NO.
>
> Anyway.
>
> Since you do not know Turkish, it is only natural that you did
> not understand what was reported at the Istanbul Indymedia site.
> I am no different: I have no clue about neither Chinese nor
> China.
>
> Best,
>
> Sabri
>
> PS: One of the hotly debated topics among the participants of the
> antiwar movement (coincidentally, most of them are also
> "antiglobalizationists") is the Kurdish question. There has not
> been much progress on that but at least those who were afraid of
> debating this issue are now talking about it. This is some
> progress in my book as well.