TURKEY THREATENS REPERCUSSIONS FOR U.S.
By Christopher Torchia – Associated Press Writer
Houston Chronicle, TX
The Associated Press
Oct 12 2007
ANKARA, Turkey – Turkey, which is a key supply route to U.S. troops in
Iraq, recalled its ambassador to Washington on Wednesday and warned
of serious repercussions if Congress labels the killing of Armenians
by Turks a century ago as genocide.
Ordered after a House committee endorsed the genocide measure, the
summons of the ambassador for consultations was a further sign of the
deteriorating relations between two longtime allies and the potential
for new turmoil in an already troubled region.
Egeman Bagis, an aide to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, told
Turkish media that Turkey – a conduit for many of the supplies shipped
to American bases in both Iraq and Afghanistan – might have to "cut
logistical support to the U.S."
Analysts also have speculated the resolution could make Turkey more
inclined to send troops into northern Iraq to hunt Turkish Kurd rebels,
a move opposed by the U.S. because it would disrupt one of the few
relatively stable and peaceful Iraqi areas.
"There are steps that we will take," Turkey’s prime minister told
reporters, but without elaboration. It also wasn’t clear if he meant
his government would act immediately or wait to see what happens to
the resolution in Congress.
He declined to answer questions about whether Turkey might shut down
Incirlik air base in southern Turkey, a major cargo hub for U.S. and
allied military forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. Turkey’s Mediterranean
port of Iskenderun is also used to ferry goods to American troops.
"You don’t talk about such things, you just do them," Erdogan said.
The measure before Congress is just a nonbinding resolution without
the force of law, but the debate has incensed Turkey’s government.
The relationship between the two NATO allies, whose troops fought
together in the Korean War in 1950-53, have stumbled in the past.
They hit a low in 2003, when Turkey’s parliament refused to allow
U.S. forces use their country as a staging ground for the invasion
that toppled Saddam Hussein.
But while the threat of repercussions against the U.S. is appealing
for many Turks, the country’s leaders know such a move could hurt
Turkey’s standing as a reliable ally of the West and its ambitions
to be a mediator on the international stage.
The Turks did suspend military ties with France last year after
parliament’s lower house approved a bill that would have made it
a crime to deny the mass killings of Armenians in Turkey amounted
to genocide. But Turkey has much more to lose from cutting ties to
the U.S.
The United States is one of its major business partners, with $11
billion in trade last year, and the U.S. defense industry provides
much of the Turkish military’s equipment.
Turkey’s ambassador in Washington, Nabi Sensoy, was ordered home
for discussions with the Turkish leadership about what is happening
in Congress, Foreign Minister spokesman Levent Bilman said. He said
Sensoy would go back after seven to 10 days.
"We are not withdrawing our ambassador. We have asked him to come to
Turkey for some consultations," Bilman said. "The ambassador was given
instructions to return and will come at his earliest convenience."
The Bush administration, which is lobbying strongly in hopes of
persuading Congress to reject the resolution, stressed the need for
good relations with Turkey.
"We look forward to his quick return and will continue to work to
maintain strong U.S.-Turkish relations," said Gordon Johndroe, a
spokesman for the National Security Council. "We remain opposed to
House Resolution 106 because of the grave harm it could bring to the
national security of the United States."
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the measure is damaging relations
at a time when U.S. forces in Iraq rely heavily on Turkish permission
to use their airspace for cargo flights.
About 70 percent of U.S. air cargo headed for Iraq goes through
Turkey as does about one-third of the fuel used by the U.S. military
there. U.S. bases also get water and other supplies carried in overland
by Turkish truckers who cross into Iraq’s northern Kurdish region.
In addition, C-17 cargo planes fly military supplies to U.S. soldiers
in remote areas of Iraq from Incirlik, avoiding the use of Iraqi roads
vulnerable to bomb attacks. U.S. officials say the arrangement helps
reduce American casualties.
U.S.-Turkish ties already had been strained by Turkey’s complaint
the U.S. hasn’t done enough to stop Turkish Kurd rebels from using
bases in northern Iraq to stage attacks in southeastern Turkey,
a predominantly Kurdish region where tens of thousands have died in
fighting since 1984.
Turkish warplanes and helicopter gunships attacked suspected positions
of Kurdish rebels on the border this week and Turkey’s parliament
was expected to vote next week on a proposal to allow the military
to pursue a large-scale offensive in northern Iraq.
The U.S. ambassador to Turkey, Ross Wilson, was invited to the Foreign
Ministry, where officials conveyed their "unease" over the resolution
in Congress and asked the Bush administration do all in its power to
stop passage by the full House, a Foreign Ministry official said. He
spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to make
press statements.
Historians estimate up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by
Ottoman Turks around the time of World War I. Turkey denies the
deaths constituted genocide, saying the killings didn’t come from
a coordinated campaign but rather during unrest accompanying the
Ottoman Empire’s collapse.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee passed the resolution Wednesday
despite intense lobbying by Turkish officials and the opposition
from President Bush. The vote was a triumph for well-organized
Armenian-American interest groups that have lobbied Congress for
decades to pass a resolution.
The administration will now try to pressure Democratic leaders in
Congress not to schedule a vote, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
indicated they were committed to going forward.
"Why do it now? Because there’s never a good time and all of us in
the Democratic leadership have supported" it, she said.
Turkish officials said the House had no business to get involved in
writing history.
"It is not possible to accept such an accusation of a crime which
was never committed by the Turkish nation," Turkey’s government said
after the committee adopted the measure.
Associated Press writers C. Onur Ant in Istanbul and Suzan Fraser in
Ankara contributed to this report.