| Prime Minister Erdogan promises to do everything the way the US wants Secret and overt agreements with the United States are fraught with serious consequences for the leadership of Turkey, the majority of whose population actively opposes the Iraq war. The upcoming landing of the Yankees had already led yesterday to a massive anti-American demonstration in the port of Iskenderun, to disperse which the gendarmes had to shoot in the air and use batons. And in northern Iraq, the leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) Mustafa Barzani, announcing the general mobilization of the KDP armed forces, said that “the Kurds will not allow the Turks to appear in their areas of residence, even as part of a military coalition led by the United States.”
Meanwhile, American troops could appear in Turkey any day now. The newly appointed prime minister, 49-year-old Recep Tayyip Erdogan, leader of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), promised to bring this issue back to parliament for discussion immediately after the formation of his government. The Turkish Embassy in Moscow told the Vremya Novostei newspaper that Erdogan will try to present the new cabinet to the president “within this week.” On March 1, the Turkish parliament refused to allow the United States to deploy 62,000 American troops in the country on the eve of a possible military operation against Iraq.
The prime minister hopes to achieve success by conducting “explanatory work” with anti-American members of the AKP, which has a majority of almost two-thirds of the votes in parliament. After all, the “falcon warrior” (this is how Erdogan’s surname is translated into Russian) managed to convince these people (his own party members) to lift the ban on him from participating in elections, imposed for promoting religious hatred. Victory in Sunday's parliamentary by-elections opened the way for Erdogan to become prime minister, from where he will be able to more clearly explain to his comrades what the more than $25 billion promised by the United States for Ankara's agreement to allow the American expeditionary force into the country means for Turkey.
According to an informed Vremya Novostey newspaper source at the Russian embassy in Turkey, American diplomats in Ankara have redoubled their efforts to persuade Turkish lawmakers to pass a law leading to the opening of a “northern front against Iraq.” And if it fails again, “the United States will still enter Northern Iraq through Turkish airspace.” But then Ankara will not receive the promised money. Alexander SAMOKHOTKIN |
|
