TURKEY: Turkey has repeatedly asked NATO member-states to provide it with surveillance aircraft, Patriot missiles and special anti-chemical and biological weapon teams because of fears of Iraqi retaliation if parliament agrees next week to allow US assault troops on to Turkish soil.
While the US Defence Secretary, Mr Donald Rumsfeld, described the Franco-Belgian stand as "shameful" and "inexcusable", Turkish reactions to news of the veto were mild. "There has been no veto on defending Turkey," the Turkish Foreign Minister, Mr Yasar Yakis, told reporters. "Some countries simply have doubts as to the timing [of such a decision]."
Retired general Riza Kucukoglu went further. "This situation has strengthened Turkey's hand against the US," he said.
Opinion polls released last week show more than 90 per cent of Turks oppose war, fearing that it could upset the country's fragile economy and destabilise the region.
After weeks of hesitation, the Turkish parliament voted last Thursday to allow US engineers to begin updating its bases in preparation for war. The decision was a major departure from Turkey's repeated calls for a peaceful solution, but Turkey's leaders continue to insist war is not inevitable.
Iraq's ambassador to Turkey, Mr Talib El Dileyimi, is less sure.
Referring last Friday to Turkey's vote, he warned that "countries that participate in such a way should know they commit a great crime, because Iraq has never shown them enmity".
While NATO stalls, the mainly Kurdish inhabitants of south-eastern Turkey have begun taking measures to defend themselves.
Just 120 miles north of the 250- mile Turkish-Iraqi border, Diyarbakir is home to one of the air bases the US hopes to use as a launching pad for its air assault on Iraq.
Civil-defence wardens are being trained throughout the city and engineers have tested the air-raid sirens. "Quietly, mind you," said the deputy mayor Mr Ahmet Zirek, "otherwise people would panic".