TURKEY: After weeks of what one US official described as "a frustrating delay in negotiations", anonymous sources yesterday said that Turkish and US military officials were nearing agreement on the deployment in Turkey of 15,000 US troops to lead a northern front in a possible war against Saddam Hussein.
By Nicholas Birch, in Istanbul
Washington had hoped to install up to 80,000 troops in bases near Turkey's 250-mile long border with Iraq. Sources say that the new figure is in response to recent Turkish intelligence reports which suggest that Iraqi forces in the north of the country are weaker than previously suspected.
But, above all, it is a reaction to Turkish public opinion, vehemently opposed to war, and afraid that US troops may remain in Turkey after the war has ended.
Turkish and US officials hope to conclude their negotiations in time for the visit of Gen Richard Myers, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, expected in Ankara on Monday.
Under the Turkish constitution, permission to deploy foreign troops on Turkish soil depends on a parliamentary vote, and Turkey's leaders have so far insisted a final decision on the extent of their co-operation with Washington must await the results of the UN arms inspectors' report, expected on January 27th.
While negotiations continue in secret, the public face of Turkish diplomacy is vigorously anti-war. In a move a Turkish foreign ministry spokesman described as "the latest step in Turkey's active peace diplomacy", prime minister, Mr Abdullah Gul yesterday invited the leaders of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria and Iran to Istanbul next week to issue a joint declaration in favour of peace. The invitation comes hard on the heels of Mr Gul's tour of Iraq's neighbours last week, and a letter delivered to Saddam Hussein by Turkey's trade minister calling for total Iraqi co-operation with UN arms inspectors.
Following the Gulf War the slump in Turkish-Iraqi trade from an annual €2.3 billion to only €120 million was one of the triggers to a decade of economic instability which ended in Turkey's worst recession since 1945.