TURKEY: Turkey's parliament will meet today to vote on whether to allow up to 61,000 US troops to use Turkey as the base for an attack on Saddam Hussein's regime, Turkish ministers announced last night. They will also decide whether Turkish troops should be sent into Iraq.
The decision, which puts an end to growing speculation that the Turkish government might decide to wait for a second UN Security Council resolution authorising the use of force against Iraq, is a major step towards meeting US demands.
Officials in Washington say a second, northern front will reduce the length and cost of war, as well as reducing the likelihood of Iraqi troops sabotaging oil fields around Kirkuk and Mosul.
US hopes for a Turkish decision on deployment early in February was held up by Turkey's fears that war could shatter its fragile economy and encourage Kurds in neighbouring northern Iraq to set up an independent state.
Speaking after yesterday's seven-hour cabinet meeting, Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Abdullatif Sener, insisted that "discussions on military, political and economic issues are continuing". But with the news last week that Turkey had accepted the general lines of a US financial aid package worth $15 billion in grants and loans, it now seems clear that the main sticking point between Ankara and Washington will be the nature of Turkish military intervention in Iraq.
Last November, the Turkish government released plans to send troops into Iraq to prevent a repeat of 1991, when 500,000 Iraqi Kurds fled across the Turkish border to avoid the Iraqi army. In an interview with CNN-Turk last Sunday, though, Turkey's Foreign Minister Mr Yasar Yakis argued Turkey should have a far wider military role.