27 Sep. - 3 Oct. 2001
Issue No.553
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 27 Sep. - 3 Oct. 2001 Issue No.553 |
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Welcomed by some
Turkey's pledge of full support to the US as it gears up to strike Afghanistan is viewed with concern by many Turks. Gareth Jenkins reports from Ankara
On Saturday Turkey announced that it had acceded to a US request for American transport aircraft to use Turkish airspace and airbases during its planned military response to the bombings in New York and Washington.
"The US is our ally and friend. It is natural for it to seek transit through and supply in Turkey," explained Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit.
However, the Turkish public fears that such support could exacerbate both Turkey's deepening economic recession and the divisions between Islamists and secularists in what is an already dangerously polarised society.
Turkey's powerful military has made no secret of its belief that Turkey has a moral duty to support the US in its avowed campaign to eradicate terrorism. "We shall provide all possible forms of moral and material support to the US," said a source close to the military.
But the civilian government has been anxious to play down suggestions that Turkey might send ground troops or planes to fight alongside the US in attacks on targets in Afghanistan. "Nobody should expect us to be dragged into a military adventure," said Foreign Minister Ismail Cem.
On Friday Prime Minister Ecevit suggested that the assistance provided by Turkey would be in the form of intelligence rather than military muscle. "We have extensive intelligence in that area which could be of great help to the US," he said.
His words probably came as something of a surprise to the Turkish intelligence services, for whom Afghanistan has hardly been a high priority. There is no reason to suggest that Turkey either has, or has ever felt the need to gather, extensive intelligence on the country. General Rashid Dostum of the Afghan opposition Northern Alliance has visited Ankara several times to persuade Turkey to provide him with logistical and financial support. But he has left each time virtually empty-handed. Turkey has consistently refused to recognise or have contacts with the Taliban, which is the one area where the US is in desperate need of intelligence.
There is little doubt that Ecevit's words were primarily calculated to reassure domestic public opinion. Many Turks believe that the US would like to include forces from a Muslim country in its military alliance so as to prevent its anti- terrorism campaign from being portrayed as anti- Islamic.
But Turks have bitter memories of the Gulf War. Despite widespread public opposition, then President Turgut Ozal was an enthusiastic supporter of the US-led coalition, enforcing sanctions and even unsuccessfully trying to persuade the Turkish military to draw up plans for the invasion and annexation of the oil-rich provinces of northern Iraq following the anticipated collapse of the regime of Saddam Hussein. But a decade of enforcing UN sanctions against Baghdad, albeit increasingly half-heartedly, has cost the Turkish economy an estimated $30 billion in lost cross-border trade and transit fees from the oil pipeline from Iraq to the Turkish port of Iskenderun. Turkey has gained nothing in return.
Throughout the 1990s the safe haven established by the allies in northern Iraq, which is still patrolled by US and British planes flying from the Turkish airbase of Incirlik, provided a secure refuge from which the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) was able to launch operations into Turkey.
According to a survey by the Turkish market research company A & G, only 8.4 per cent of Turks believe that the country should play an active role in the forthcoming US-led anti-terrorism campaign. Just 7.9 per cent believe that Turkey should allow the US to use Turkish airbases, while only 20.1 per cent approve of Turkey sharing intelligence. The vast majority, nearly 62 per cent according to the survey, believe that Turkey should not become involved at all.
"What happened in New York and Washington was terrible, really terrible," said Baris, a 34 year-old journalist. "But I don't believe that the US is going to be able to eradicate terrorism. If we help them then we shall just become a target as well; and we already have enough problems with our own leftist and Islamist terrorists. Why should we participate in this campaign? What will we get out of it?"
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