Turkey Hints It Could Back Iraq Strikes

[Sabri Oncu <soncu@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

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Wednesday November 28 10:26 AM ET

Turkey Hints It Could Back Iraq Strikes
By Steve Bryant

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey's defense minister hinted Wednesday that the NATO
member might drop its long-standing objections to a U.S. attack on Iraq if
circumstances changed.

``We have officially said again and again that we do not want an operation
in Iraq but new conditions could bring new evaluations onto the agenda,''
Anatolian news agency quoted Defense Minister Sabahattin Cakmakoglu as
telling a seminar on the defense industry in Ankara.

Asked to elaborate on his remarks, Cakmakoglu said:

``I said that with a general meaning, it is not based on any specific
information or meaning.''

Turkey's defense minister does not wield as much influence as Prime Minister
Bulent Ecevit or officers of the military General Staff, but Cakmakoglu's
comments were the first sign from a senior politician that Turkey could
change its position.

Secretary of State Colin Powell is due to visit Turkey next week during a
tour of Russia and other European countries.

Analysts said Powell is almost certain to discuss Iraq as well as plans for
a European defense force and efforts to resolve the division of the
Mediterranean island of Cyprus.

Ecevit and senior officers in the influential military have consistently
said attacks on its southern neighbor Iraq would not be welcome. Turkey is a
close Washington ally in the region.

``There is no change in our approach (toward Iraq)...At this time there is
no change in our policy,'' a Foreign Ministry spokesman told reporters
Wednesday.

``Terror has no geography, therefore we don't look at the situation in terms
of countries or countries' name. Wherever there is terrorism it must be
fought,'' he added.

Turkey supports the U.S.-led campaign in Afghanistan but is very wary of the
violence spreading to neighboring Iraq.

Monday, President Bush demanded Iraq allow international arms inspectors to
return and said President Saddam Hussein would ``find out'' the consequences
if he refused.

Ankara fears turmoil stemming from strikes on Iraq could send refugees
flooding over its border and might encourage Iraqi Kurds to try to set up a
separate Kurdish state.

Turkey has also lost billions of dollars in trade suspended by international
sanctions on Iraq, which was a major trade partner before the 1991 Gulf War.

SOMETHING'S UP

Fears that Powell could seek Turkey's support for a strike against Iraq
contributed to falls of more than six percent on the Istanbul stock exchange
Wednesday morning also fueled by concerns over the economy and discord with
the EU over Cyprus.

Brokers said the imminent Powell visit and a visit on Tuesday by Prime
Minister Guy Verhofstadt of Belgium, which holds the EU's rotating
presidency, increased the feeling that something was up in the diplomatic
field.

``The fact that the EU term president and the U.S. foreign minister are
coming in the same period point to talks on Cyprus and getting support for
Iraq. Since both are negative, the market is tense,'' said Cem Kulahci of
Meksa Securities.

Ankara treads a thin line in its dealings with Baghdad. Turkish officials
are hoping to resume trade that could be crucial to developing Turkey's
mainly Kurdish southeast.

But Turkey also hosts U.S. and British warplanes that patrol a no-fly zone
over northern Iraq and often bomb the country.

And Ankara has enraged Iraq by keeping soldiers in northern Iraq as a buffer
against Kurdish rebels based in the mountainous north, outside Baghdad's
control since the 1991 Gulf War.

Turkey fears any shake-up in Iraq could produce a separate Kurdish state in
northern Iraq, which might then encourage the aims of separatist Turkish
Kurd guerrillas Turkish forces have fought since 1984 at the cost of more
than 30,000 lives.