ANKARA Ñ The United States has informed Turkey it want to begin the deployment of 90,000 American troops to six Turkish bases for a war against
Iraq.
Earlier this month, Turkey agreed in principle to allow the United States to use its bases for a possible military campaign against Iraq after being promised $3.4 billion in aid.
On Friday, the authoritative Ankara-based Hurriyet daily provided extensive details of
the U.S. request from Turkey for the use of its military bases. The
newspaper said U.S. intelligence and military teams have already been
deployed along the Iraqi-Turkish border to train members of the Iraqi
opposition for a war against Baghdad.
The newspaper said the United States wants to use six military bases in Turkey, Middle East Newsline reported. A U.S. team intends to arrive in Turkey
over the next week to begin technical and logistics preparations for the
deployment.
Two of the bases would be deemed as command and control facilities to
help direct the war against Iraq. In addition, the U.S. Defense Department
has asked Ankara for permission to use 14 civilian airports for logistics
and supplies. The Pentagon also requested the use of four Turkish sea ports.
Officials said the new government of Prime Minister Abdullah Gul has not
responded to the request. They said Gul and the head of the ruling
Islamic-oriented Justice and Development Party Recep, Tayyip Erdogan, have
been dismayed by what they consider an insufficient U.S. compensation
package for Turkish cooperation with a U.S.-led war against Iraq.
So far, Ankara has allowed three teams from the U.S. intelligence
community to operate along the Iraqi-Turkish border. Hurriyet said the U.S.
mission was meant to train the Iraqi opposition to participate in the war
against the regime of President Saddam Hussein.
"Ankara expressed reservation over two of these ports while remaining
ports would become the subject of negotiation with the American
administration," Hurriyet said.
Turkish officials said permission for U.S. military deployment would
come from parliament, dominated by the Justice and Development Party. So
far, polls report a huge majority of Turks against such a deployment.
The U.S. request for Turkish bases comes as Ankara has bolstered its
military presence along the Iraqi border and inside northern Iraq. Officials
have reported troop movement in the area of Diyarbakir.
Officials said the Gul government has been disappointed with the U.S.
failure to convince the European Union not to delay Turkey's membership.
Over
the weekend, EU leaders said they would not consider Turkey's accession
request until at least December 2004.
In contrast, the EU voted to accept the Republic of Cyprus as a member.
Turkey has warned that such a decision would delay any resolution of the
Cypriot crisis.
