ANKARA, Turkey, April 1—Secretary of State Colin L. Powell bluntly warned tonight that Turkey will have trouble securing $1 billion in proposed U.S. aid unless it cooperates swiftly with the United States in the war against Iraq. Powell’s remarks were the first time an administration official has tied the aid request to Turkey’s cooperation in the war.
There is still a level of disappointment within the United States,
within the administration and within the Congress
over
Turkey’s rejection last month of a U.S. request to let 62,000
U.S. troops launch an attack on Baghdad from the north, Powell told
reporters traveling with him.
U.S. officials have largely abandoned those plans but now worry that Turkey will send its own troops into northern Iraq and clash with the United States’ Kurdish allies there. In a hastily arranged trip, Powell arrived here tonight to try to reach a deal that would hold off such an incursion.
He said today he would tell Turkish leaders in meetings on Wednesday
that people in Congress are looking at this and wondering whether
$1 billion should be included in a time of tough fiscal
circumstances.
The money could be used to secure a loan of as much as $8.5 billion to buoy Turkey’s struggling economy, and Turkish financial markets rallied on news of the request last week. At the time, U.S. officials depicted the money as a no-strings gesture to help Turkey’s economy.
Powell said the Turks must make sure they do nothing in the days
and weeks ahead
to contribute to this lingering sense of
disappointment,
such as sending troops into Iraq. He said the
United States was looking for full cooperation in the days ahead,
full support for humanitarian efforts as well as an effort to support
our troops in northern Iraq.
Powell noted that Turkish officials have held up some deliveries of
humanitarian aid to Iraq. I want to see if we can get these delays
out of the way and get this aid
into Iraq, he said.
An estimated 40,000 Turkish troops are massed on the Iraqi border, and Turkish leaders have said several developments could trigger an invasion: an attack on Turkish troops that are already in Kurdish areas of northern Iraq; a refugee crisis that could generate an influx into Turkey; anti- Turkish terrorist activity in Iraqi territory or a move by Iraqi Kurds to seize Kirkuk, the hub of an oil-rich region.
Kurdish militias that control northern Iraq have emerged as important U.S. allies in the war against President Saddam Hussein’s government. U.S. officials fear that a Turkish entry into the north would be a major complication, perhaps touching off fighting between Turks and Kurds.
Powell arrived after several days of talks on this issue in Ankara and
northern Iraq by special U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad. A deal is close,
U.S. and Turkish officials said. I hope we will be able to come to
a complete understanding tomorrow,
Powell said.
A U.S. official said Turkey was demanding a written agreement outlining the circumstances that would allow it to enter northern Iraq. American negotiators have rejected the request in an effort to maintain flexibility to react to events.
Turkey has agreed to coordinate any deployment with the U.S. military, but it has warned it will move on its own if the United States fails to address its concerns.
Paratroops from the U.S. Army’s 173rd Airborne Brigade dropped
into northern Iraq last week, and Powell said today that the north was
pretty much under control.
He said there had been no major
movement of refugees toward the Turkish border, as there was during
the Persian Gulf War in 1991, and added that U.S. forces had pretty
good coordination and control of activities of Kurds.
The situation is pretty stable, and therefore we see absolutely
nothing that would require such an incursion,
Powell said.
Khalilzad assured Turkish officials that the United States had won promises from the Iraqi Kurds not to enter Kirkuk, now controlled by the Iraqi government. Turkey fears the Kurds will expel the city’s ethnic Turkmen population and use its oil wealth to support an independent state. That might inflame secessionist tendencies among Turkey’s Kurdish minority, officials in Ankara fear.
A senior Turkish official said his government has noted reports of
recent Kurdish advances toward Kirkuk and fears the United States
cannot control its Kurdish allies. It’s a serious
concern,
he said. It would be a serious public opinion problem
if they moved on Kirkuk.
The official said Turkey and the United States had tentatively agreed
on a set of early warning signals
that would prompt a
discussion about whether Turkish troops should move, including large
refugee flows that fill the camps in northern Iraq, movement by the
Kurdish separatist group that Turkey and the United States have
labeled a terrorist organization and Kurdish activity in and around
Kirkuk.
Turkish officials have pressed for a monitoring committee that would regularly assess the situation in northern Iraq.
Powell will visit Brussels on Thursday for talks with European and NATO leaders on postwar reconstruction in Iraq.
He announced today that he would also make a two-hour stop in Belgrade after his talks in Ankara conclude on Wednesday. Zoran Djindjic, the prime minister of Serbia, was assassinated last month, and Powell will meet with his replacement, Zoran Zivkovic, and Serbian President Svetozar Marovic.
Powell said he was making the stop to show our support for the
country as they go through this difficult time.
He said he would
urge officials to pursue criminal groups believed responsible for the
killing and to continue to turn over suspects to the Yugoslavia war
crimes tribunal at The Hague.
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