TURKISH AIRSPACE IN QUESTION

EarthTimes, UK
Oct 17 2007

WASHINGTON, Oct. 16 Supplying the U.S. military in Iraq will cost
more and take longer if Turkey closes its airspace, The Wall Street
Journal reported Tuesday.

Diplomatic relations between Turkey and the United States are strained
by Turkey’s steps that appear to signal plans to invade northern
Iraq to fight Kurdish rebels and a U.S. House of Representatives
resolution accusing Turkey of genocide against Armenians following
the World War I.

If Turkey closes its airspace, 70 percent of the air cargo entering
Iraq through Turkey would need to be rerouted through Jordan, which
has no major U.S. air base, or Kuwait, where U.S. ports and bases
are overburdened, the Journal reported.

Turkey has been a close ally of the United States, allowing enormous
quantities of food, fuel, vehicles, ammunition, spare parts and
medical supplies to enter Iraq through the Incirlik Air Base in
southern Turkey.