ANKARA Ñ Turkey has quietly shelved its opposition to any U.S.-led
effort to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
Turkish officials said Ankara has signaled its new position to the
United States. On Wednesday, Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit is
scheduled to meet President George Bush.
Ecevit is expected to elicit a pledge from Bush
that any attack on
Baghdad will not result in the disintegration of Iraq. Ankara fears the
establishment of a Kurdish state in northern Iraq, which could spark Kurdish
insurgency in southeastern Turkey.
Instead, officials said, Ecevit will advocate a democratic Iraq that
would include all sectors of the country. They said Ecevit will not object
to any effort to topple Saddam.
"Our objection [to an attack on Baghdad] has nothing to do with Saddam
being driven out of office," Ecevit said. "That is not our concern. This is
an internal matter of Iraq."
Ecevit acknowledged U.S. assertions that Iraqi biological and chemical
weapons threaten its neighbors, including Turkey. Earlier, Iraqi officials
said Baghdad's weapons of mass destruction programs are no different from
those of Armenia or Iran.
Turkey's military is said to support the Ecevit approach. Last week,
Turkish Chief of Staff Gen. Huseyin Kivrikoglu said "the presence or
absence" of Saddam in Baghdad is not important for the military.
"Iraq should not disintegrate," Kivrikoglu said. "If Iraq is divided it
can open new wounds in the Middle East. The problem for us is not Saddam or
anyone else. Of course we want a democratic country in this location. But
the people of Iraq should decide on this."
